The A.V. Club has learned that SundanceTV is ordering a fourth season of Rectify. The network renewed the slow-burning drama ahead of its season-three premiere, a signal of confidence in the next six episodes of the show/indication that we probably won’t learn of Daniel Holden’s true guilt or innocence for another year or so.
“Even in an increasingly crowded field of dramas on television, Rectify has established itself as something special,” said Charlie Collier, president of AMC and SundanceTV, in a statement. “What Ray McKinnon, this incredible cast and everyone associated with the show have been able to achieve is remarkable, and we are so pleased to usher in this third season with an order for a fourth.”
Rectify’s third season premieres Thursday, July 9, at 10 p.m. Eastern. Its renewal is part of a welcome trend in summer TV, in which quality programs with soft Nielsen numbers nonetheless live to see another day—sometimes before their newest episodes have a chance to court the 18- to 49-year-old eyeballs all advertisers crave. To date, that trend has passed Hannibal by, probably because Dr. Lecter would eat the eyeballs before advertisers had a chance to squeeze any cash out of them.