"Mercy Street" opened to a heightened interest in viewers in January but has concluded its first season run of six episodes recently on Feb. 21 with no official announcement or word as yet of a second season.

(Reuters) Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Radnor star in Mercy Street television series on PBS which has just concluded its first season airing

The series opened on PBS to a whopping 3.3 million viewers on premiere night, which was boosted no doubt by interest building up a week prior from having been made available by digital streaming on Jan. 14 to 17.

Yet despite trending on Twitter opening night, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger responded negatively to a query during the TCA Q&A session on whether a season 2 is imminent, saying PBS is not ready to make an announcement.

She responded to another query on whether scripts were ready for a following season, "I have not seen scripts for Season 2 and I know you're trying desperately to get me to say Season 2."

But Kerger did say that PBS left the door open for season 2 and did what they could to make sure there can be a season 2. PBS programming chief Beth Hoppe was asked whether she had seen the scripts, to which a positive answer was given that she did get to see the outlines of it.

This may fuel hopes of fans that "Mercy Street" would get a second season. The series is set in Alexandria, Virginia during the Civil War in America created by David Zabel and Lisa Wolfinger. It follows two nurses, Mary Phinney (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Emma Green (Hannah James), who come from opposing sides but both work at the Mansion House Hospital.

Season 1 garnered generally favorable reviews and left off with episode 6, "the Diabolical Plot," where Frank Stringfellow (Jack Falahee) calls off an assassination attempt upon seeing Emma attending to President Lincoln. Meantime, Aurelia Johnson (Shalita Grant) recovers and is reunited with her mother and seven-year-old son, Gabriel.