AMC and Channel 4 have picked up an eight-episode second season of critically praised drama Humans. Production starts next year.

Penned by British writing partners Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley (Spooks) based on the Swedish sci-fi drama Real Humans from Matador Films, the series ranks as a top five cable drama launch among adults 25-54 in the U.S. this season and has averaged 2.0 million viewers and 1.0 million adults 25-54 through its first four episodes in live+3 ratings. The first episode was Channel 4’s highest-rated originated drama in 20 years; season one has drawn an 18.0% share of the UK viewing audience on Sundays between 9-10 PM.

“As one of the year’s top new cable series, Humans has been embraced by fans and critics across the U.S. and UK,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and Sundance TV.

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Piers Wenger, Head of Drama at Channel 4, said: “Humans also marks a key moment for Channel 4 as we expand our remit for bold and original drama into the international, co-production space.”

AMC boarded the series after Channel 4’s original U.S. partner, XBox, folded its TV unit. It is part of the diversification of the network’s development model as AMC has been adding straight-to-series orders and international co-productions to the traditional way of piloting a drama before picking it up to series.

Co-produced by AMC and Channel 4 with Kudos, the first season explored humans’ inherent fear of the unknown and the possible implications of granting machines consciousness.

Humans is executive produced by Derek Wax and Chris Fry for Kudos, Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, and Henrik Widman and Lars Lundström for Matador Films.