BBC America Announces ‘Orphan Black’ Will Be Back For Season 5 — But That Will Be The Final Season, As Per The Original Plan

As BBC America airs the Season 4 finale of Orphan Black, they also announce Season 5 will definitely be the show’s last. While this saddens fans, it is also a relief BBC America will follow its original plan for the show and not attempt to drag the show beyond its logical conclusion.

Orphan Black burst onto TV screens in 2013, bringing a fresh concept to the sci-fi genre currently airing on television. Tatiana Maslany, the main character, played several different characters — all of them clones. The series follows the clones as they try to find out the reasons for their creation as well as trying to save the lives of those clones who are dying from a clone predisposition. It was an exciting concept that bloomed through two seasons before the science side of it enveloped the storyline and Season 3 found viewers dropping off as they found it hard to follow the multiple storylines that twisted and turned at an ever increasing rate. Season 4 saw a return to a simpler plot and fans settled in for the ride. However, in a statement issued by BBC America, its president, Sarah Barnett, announced the renewal of Orphan Black for a fifth but final season.

“Orphan Black is a thrilling, genre-bending ride that has captured our fans’ imaginations and hearts like no other show. Our genius team of actors, writers and producers have, time after time, taken us to a place of awe, delight and utter shock and surprise. Tatiana has been and continues to be a complete revelation, hers is one of the most remarkable performances on television, and she is joined by an extraordinary cast. We can’t wait to take our incredibly passionate audience on one final gobsmacking clone adventure.”

Orphan Black co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson added, “We are excited to deliver an epic conclusion to the tale of Sarah and her clone sisters. The past four seasons have been a phenomenal adventure and we are eternally grateful to our loyal fans who have loved the twists and thrills of our weird little show.”

For many TV shows, the story is organic and can go on for season after season if needed, depending on the ratings and just how much the network hosting the show is willing to invest in it. Other shows, however, perhaps should have finished before they did, and were only allowed to go on because of their ratings success. But for the creators of Orphan Black, Season 5 was always going to be the end point. When E! Online interviewed John Fawcett last year, he confirmed Season 5 would likely be the end of the line for Orphan Black, well ahead of BBC America’s latest press release. “The series is mapped to a large degree, in that there is always room to move and work organically, but we are working towards a five season story,” Fawcett stated. “We will arrive at some kind of end destination by the end of season five.”

However, as International Business Times points out, Season 4 of Orphan Black is still only pulling in half of the viewers it used to have, so perhaps this is the real reason BBC America has decided to go with the original plan of a five-season story arc rather than try to flesh it out in further seasons.

But before fans can strap themselves in for the final season of Orphan Black, they must prepare themselves for the Season 4 finale. Season 4 of Orphan Black has seen the series return to the very beginning of Season 1 in order to move the story along. The Season 4 finale, entitled “From Dancing Mice To Psychopaths,” of BBC America’s Orphan Black will air on Thursday, June 16, at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central. The official synopsis is as follows.

“When communication with Cosima is cut off and Neolution appears to be within striking distance, Sarah’s alliance with Rachel goes out the window. Sarah lures a high-level Neolutionist into a trap, and sets out to bring down Neolution once and for all.”

Season 5 of Orphan Black will return for its fifth and final season in 2017.

[Image via BBC America]