ABC has given legal soap How to Get Away with Murder a fifth season, it was confirmed today.
Despite getting Scandal as a lead-in for its entire fourth season, How to Get Away with Murder didn’t seem to benefit in terms of ratings, as it came in down 27% from its performance in 2016-17. The show is still capable of drawing buzz, particularly when it comes to social media, and ratings are still fine compared to the rest of ABC’s drama slate, but it’s clearly on the other side of its commercial peak and something that ABC will have to consider ending in the next season or two.
Considering the auspices involved, How to Get Away with Murder likely wouldn’t cancelled without a pre-announced final season, especially as ABC is still sketching out its new drama brand. What could be interesting is if the network opts to move the series, so closely tied to the now-defunct TGIT branding, and become more aggressive on Thursdays. It’s not a probable outcome by any means, given how many trouble spots ABC has to fix and how thin their returning drama class will be, but if they don’t think they have the comedies to make Tuesday a proper launchpad for a new drama, How to Get Away with Murder could be an option as they focus on other nights.
The fourth season finale of How to Get Away with Murder aired this past March on ABC.
