CBS has confirmed that "Under the Dome" will be renewed for a third season.
CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler released an official announcement about renewing the series for season three, attributing their decision to the fans' anticipation for another round of fresh episodes.
"We're committed to delivering our viewers and advertisers year-round programming with a wide variety of storytelling," Tassler explained. "We continue to see summer as a great place for unique concepts, innovative business models and passionate television audiences."
The performance of "Under the Dome" for the second season was widely criticized, and ratings were lower compared to its excellent performance in season one.
Nonetheless, season two was still deemed as having a strong performance and audience reach, especially with "Under the Dome" airing last summer. It was reported to be the top scripted series for summer as season two raked in at least 11 million viewers, 2.7 million of which belonged to the target 18-49 age demographic.
Additional viewing was also made available on Prime Instant Video by Amazon four days after CBS had put out the episodes. Thanks to such deal, CBS reportedly pulled in $900,000 for every episode.
According to executive producer Neal Baer, he has already come up with specific plans for "Under the Dome" as it progresses to the third season.
"We have great adventures ahead," Baer told Assignment X. "We've set it up so we can keep going. We have a lot of stories to tell."
He also added: "It changes as the show continues. I don't really know [how it ends] — we have certain ideas that we can do, but it's in flux."
Baer also commented that the team behind "Under the Dome" already has an idea about how the show will end, which will be different from the book's conclusion.
While there have been no further announcements from CBS regarding the premiere date of "Under the Dome" season three, it is expected that the show will be set for a debut on June 2015.
