- The sci-fi drama has been renewed for a fifth and final season, it was announced Thursday, June 16, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The final 10-episode season will air in 2017.
The news comes hours ahead of the season-four finale, which airs Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on BBC America. The final episode of the season is said to include a major cliffhanger.
Orphan Black stars Emmy nominee Tatiana Maslany as several identical people who are clones. In addition to her 2015 Emmy nomination, the actress also was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and has won two Critics' Choice Awards and a Television Critics Association Award for her performance. The series also earned a Peabody Award in 2014.
The cast also includes Ari Millen, Jordan Gavaris, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Skyler Wexler, Kevin Hanchard, Evelyne Brochu, Kristian Bruun and Josh Vokey.
Co-creators and showrunners Graeme Manson and John Fawcett executive produce Orphan Black with Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier and Kerry Appleyard. The series is produced by Temple Street in association with BBC America and Space, with BBC Worldwide handling distribution.
"Orphan Black is a thrilling, genre-bending ride that has captured our fans’ imaginations and hearts like no other show," BBC America president Sarah Barnett said in a statement. "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."
Fawcett and 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. We are thankful to our partners at Temple Street, and to BBC America and Space for their support and giving us the opportunity to end on a high."
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter prior to the final season announcement, Manson said he and Fawcett had a "general concept of what we would need to do for an end point in the final season," but it was unclear just when that would come to fruition.
The upcoming loss of Orphan Black will be a big one for BBC America, considering its acclaim and the star rise of Maslany. The cabler is getting ready to launch its next original series, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, starring Sam Barnett and Elijah Wood, on Oct. 22. Other BBC America co-productions include Doctor Who and The Musketeers.
