"Mistresses" season 4 ended with the sudden death of Dr. Karen Kim (Yunjin Kim), and while executive producer Rina Mimoun promised that season 5 would introduce a "Karen 2.0" to replace the character, it has been announced that ABC has officially canceled the show.
As per a report from Variety, the series had just aired its season 4 finale last Sept. 6, and despite final episode ending on a shocking cliffhanger, the show is not going to be given a fifth season to give the audiences some form of resolution or a new character to step in her place.
The report points out that the show managed to attain over 4.4 million viewers during its premiere season and was capable of holding the numbers during the sophomore run. However, by the time Alyssa Milano departed, the third season experienced a drop in ratings.
Season 4 saw the lowest ratings for the show, reportedly dipping below 2 million viewers on average. The season 4 finale only saw 2.57 million viewers, and the low ratings, which means lower profits from advertisers and partners, may be the reason why the executives at ABC have decided to end the series.
"I don't think in Season 5, we're looking to create a whole new series regular," Mimoun had told TV Line a day after the season 4 finale aired. "We'd do it knowing it was our final season, to be able to tie it off in a way that's satisfying for the fans," the EP added.
Unfortunately, the sudden cancellation means that the recently concluded season was the final one, and the potential characters and stories that Mimoun and the rest of the crew had planned, as teased in the season 4 finale, will never materialize. The new mystery woman that was shown during the season 4 finale will never be identified, unless the series is picked up and revived on a new platform such as Netflix.
