Summary
The Librarians: The Next Chapterhas found a new home. The show is set to be the next installment in the long-running fantasy adventure franchise that kicked off with the 2004 TV movieThe Librarian: Quest for the Spear, spawning a multimedia phenomenon following the protectors of a magical artifact collection that now includes three movies and a four-season spinoff series.TheLibrarians: The Next Chapterseason 1was originally set to premiere on The CW in the upcoming Fall 2024-2025 season, but it was abruptly removed from the schedule on August 16.
Per theWall Street Journal,The Librarians: The Next Chapterhas now found a new home at TNT, the network where the original movies and TV show aired. This is reportedly part of a move toward investing in more scripted dramas and spending time in 2025 focusing on “high-adrenaline” content. The CW’s President of Entertainment Brad Schwartz toldTVLinethat the network is “incredibly proud to have worked alongside [producer] Dean Devlin” and his team. Read Schwartz’s full statement below:
The CW is incredibly proud to have worked alongside Dean Devlin and the entire team at Electric Entertainment to create an extraordinary continuation of The Librarians franchise. We are thrilled that the series’ original network TNT loves it as much as we do and saw great value bringing it to their audience. It’s a first for CW Studios and we cannot wait for fans to experience this incredible next chapter.
Does The Librarians: The Next Chapter Have A Future Beyond Season 1?
The Librarians Sequel Show Still Stands On Shaky Ground
The future of the show beyond season 1 is uncertain, but the franchise has alreadyshown impressive longevity through the years. The originalLibrarianmoviesran every two years between 2004-2008 and while there was a hiatus of more than half a decade between the movies and the premiere of the showThe Librarians, the spinoff ran consistently between 2014-2018. The multimedia franchise has also expanded outside of the screen with a series of tie-in novels and comic books, proving its ability to succeed in a variety of mediums.
By returning to TNT,The Librarians: The Next Chaptermay ultimately prove to have the same kind of consistent longevity as its predecessors. This is more than can have been said for its run on The CW, which is still finding its identity as a network after it was sold by its parent company and acquired by Nexstar, a move that resulted in nearly its entire scripted slate being cancelled. However, rights and licensing issues involved in navigating the move between the networks could make renewing the current iteration of the show for future seasons prohibitively complicated.
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Both networks have likewise been skittish about developing scripted shows over the past few years. While the budget level and IP connection ofThe Librarians: The Next Chaptermight make it a perfect match for TNT now, the fact that The CW has already had cold feet might mean that TNT will have doubts about the project themselves before long. Ultimately, it seems that the show’s fate will be determined by the size of the audience it draws in. If it becomes a bona fide hit, a season 2 renewal might be undeniable in spite of any possible issues.
The Librarians: The Next Chapter
Cast
The Librarians: The Next Chapter features a time-traveling librarian from the past who becomes stranded in the present. Upon returning to his now museum-castle, he accidentally unleashes magic across the continent. To address this, he assembles a new team of Librarians tasked with restoring balance.
