Lifetime Renews UnREAL For Season 4

Lifetime has handed down an early season four renewal to UnREAL, Entertainment Weekly reports, despite the fact that the series won't air its third season until next year. 

The network revealed the big news at the Television Critics Association's press tour on Friday. The show stars Shiri Appleby as Rachel Goldberg, a producer on the TV show Everlasting, a fictionalized version of The Bachelor. Rachel's boss is Quinn King (Constance Zimmer), who pushes her to send the show's contestants down dangerous paths in pursuit of drama. Craig Bierko, Jeffrey Boyer-Chapman, and Josh Kelly also star.

UnREAL was a huge win for Lifetime when its first season debuted in 2015, earning high critical praise and being described by some as the female Breaking Bad. Although the second season was less of a hit, the show has still been a favorite, earning Zimmer a best supporting actress Emmy nomination, alongside another nomination for writing. The show has also been nominated for multiple Critics Choice Television Awards and won a Peabody in 2016. 

Season three, which was pushed back from the other seasons' summer air dates to a more prominent early 2018 release, will feature Caitlin FitzGerald (Masters of Sex) as the show's first ever female suitor. Stacy Rukeyser (The Lying Game) will take over as showrunner following the departure of co-creators Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and Marti Noxon, who left after the critically divisive second season.

Lifetime also announced Friday that Mary Kills People, a drama about a doctor (Caroline Dhavernas) who helps terminally ill patients die with dignity, would get a second season, set to premiere in early 2018. The network's other notable upcoming series, the thriller You from Arrow-verse creator Greg Berlanti, recently began production and is also set to debut in 2018. The show stars Penn Badgley as a bookstore manager who uses the constant connectivity inherent in today's technology to woo the woman of his dreams, aspiring writer Beck (Elizabeth Lail).

Even though we'll have to wait until next year to see Lifetime's exciting upcoming slate, there's still plenty of entertainment to look forward to this year. See all of the TV shows that will blow you away in 2017.