‘Murder In a Small Town’ Renewal Chances Unclear, Report Says

The future of Fox’s crime drama Murder In a Small Town is still up in the air. Based on The Alberg and Cassandra Mysteries by L.R. Wright, Murder In a Small Town premiered on Sept. 24 and stars Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk. As networks begin to make decisions for next season, it’s time to start thinking about which shows have a chance and which don’t, and as of now, the drama could really lean either way.

According to a report by Deadline, Murder In a Small Town has done pretty fair in the cost vs. viewership ratio, especially for being greenlit under Fox’s low-cost international content model, receiving just an eight-episode order for the first season. While there are certainly enough books in the Alberg series to warrant another season, the outlet shared it’s unclear whether the network would go for a second season. On the bright side, Fox is “expected to stay in the sandbox, supplementing its schedule – and balance sheet – with modestly budgeted international drama co-productions, including mysteries.”

Budgets have definitely been a big problem for networks lately, as it was the big reason why Fox wound up canceling 9-1-1: Lone Star and its parent series, 9-1-1, before the latter got picked up by ABC. Lone Star won’t be getting the same treatment, unfortunately. As for Murder In a Small Town, co-productions seem to do pretty well for the most part, so it’s not entirely out of the question. It does seem like there’s no clear direction which way Fox is leaning, which could be either good or bad.

It’s hard to predict when Fox will announce its decision on Murder In a Small Town. But renewals and cancellations can happen at any moment, and with the final airing on Nov. 26, it’s quite possible one could be made any day now. Fans will just have to patiently wait and see. In the meantime, all seven episodes are streaming on Hulu in case anyone wants to catch up before the final episode, and one can only hope that it’s the final episode of Season 1 and not of the series. There is definitely still a lot more story to be told, and that can’t continue unless a second season is ordered.