A.P. Bio Season 4 - What We Know So Far

Certified terrible teacher Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton) is officially coming back for a fourth season of roping his students into questionable — but hilarious — revenge plots on Peacock's A.P. Bio.

The sitcom is one of the most underrated TV shows of the last few years, but it's got comedy talent in spades, with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Howerton as its lead and Saturday Night Live's Mike O'Brien as its creator and showrunner. Plus, Patton Oswalt and Paula Pell fill in the school's administration as Principal Durbin and secretary Helen.

It's been three seasons since the disgraced philosophy professor found himself in the highly undesirable position of teaching advanced placement biology in a Toledo high school. Upon arrival, he promptly decided that no, in fact, he would not teach any biology and instead schemed with his students to get out of Ohio and back to Harvard. Despite it all, he's still stuck in public school ... but maybe, sort of likes it now? Season four will surely illuminate just how much Ohio has grown on him, so here's everything we know about it so far.

Peacock announced last December that they renewed A.P. Bio for a fourth season, saying it will come sometime this year. There's no date yet attached to the season premiere, but season 3 dropped last September — just in time for back to school — so it's likely season 4 will air around the same time. Plus, since streaming site Peacock picked up A.P. Bio after NBC canceled it, the whole season will be released all at once.

It's great timing, because what's better for treating back to school blues than living vicariously through the much more chaotic antics of a fictional classroom? A.P. Bio season 4 is sure to spice up the new school year. Plus, fans of Howerton can also look forward to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's season 15 coming out sometime this year as well (and the year after that, and the year after that, as the series got renewed for four more seasons all at once).

Fans can expect the main cast to return, as the show has grown from a Jack-centric affair into something closer to an ensemble. So while Howerton is still going strong as Dennis on Always Sunny, he also hasn't given up on not-teaching biology just yet. Each season usually has a handful of guest stars, and while season 4's haven't been announced yet, showrunner O'Brien said in a Reddit AMA that other Always Sunny actors may drop in someday — fingers crossed that day will come in season 4.

As with any high school-based series, the impending question of when the students will graduate hangs over each season. O'Brien, however, has been avoiding anything that shows time passing in A.P. Bio — they created a new Toledo-specific holiday specifically to avoid Christmas (via Decider) — in order to keep the same students in class as long as possible. So any fans worried about the students changing next season should rest easy knowing they're not going anywhere just yet (via Reddit).

The switch to Peacock from NBC saw the format of the show change from 13 episodes released weekly to eight all at once, but O'Brien told Decider that season 3 was meant to be 10-episodes before the pandemic halted production. He teased that the finale would have ended with a new character coming into Jack's life, so expect this mysterious newcomer in season 4's first episodes.

Plus, the writers will continue bending the episode format in weird ways. O'Brien said, "Everyone involved is so excited to do more episodes. We're so thankful to Peacock and everyone who watched! Season three was the most fun we've had. I want to dig even deeper into the main characters and also keep messing with the sitcom format" (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Now that they're writing and producing the show during the pandemic, maybe the kids will show up to class and find plexiglass dividers between their seats. Whatever is in store for next season, Howerton told Decider he wants the show to continue defying expectations.