Los Angeles - Under the Dome, the television science-fiction series based on a Stephen King novel, has been renewed for a second season, US broadcast network CBS said on Monday.
The series, which chronicles the life of a small town that is cut off from the outside world by a giant impenetrable dome, has attracted an average of about 12 million viewers per episode, making it the top scripted series of the summer in the United States.
King, whose novel of the same name was published in 2009, will write the first of 13 episodes for the second season, which will premiere next summer, CBS Corp Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told reporters at a Television Critics Association meeting.
King serves as an executive producer of the series along with Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg.
Viewers might get frustrated
Under a unique streaming deal, Under the Dome episodes appear online four days after their first TV airing for subscribers to Amazon.com Inc's Prime video service. Moonves said he hoped to extend the arrangement for the show's second season. Amazon has not disclosed how many people watched the show on its platform.
"I know they're very pleased with the results," Moonves said, "and we expect to, hopefully, continue on with them in the future."
Moonves rejected a suggestion from a reporter that viewers might get frustrated with the continuation of the series that was initially written to wrap up at the end of its summer run.
"Why can't they be under the dome for a long period of time?" he said. "This is television. This is science fiction. They're up on some planet somewhere for many years. Under the Dome, in a lot of ways, is a soap opera."
The series, which chronicles the life of a small town that is cut off from the outside world by a giant impenetrable dome, has attracted an average of about 12 million viewers per episode, making it the top scripted series of the summer in the United States.
King, whose novel of the same name was published in 2009, will write the first of 13 episodes for the second season, which will premiere next summer, CBS Corp Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told reporters at a Television Critics Association meeting.
King serves as an executive producer of the series along with Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg.
Viewers might get frustrated
Under a unique streaming deal, Under the Dome episodes appear online four days after their first TV airing for subscribers to Amazon.com Inc's Prime video service. Moonves said he hoped to extend the arrangement for the show's second season. Amazon has not disclosed how many people watched the show on its platform.
"I know they're very pleased with the results," Moonves said, "and we expect to, hopefully, continue on with them in the future."
Moonves rejected a suggestion from a reporter that viewers might get frustrated with the continuation of the series that was initially written to wrap up at the end of its summer run.
"Why can't they be under the dome for a long period of time?" he said. "This is television. This is science fiction. They're up on some planet somewhere for many years. Under the Dome, in a lot of ways, is a soap opera."