Coming as no surprise, HBO announced today that their new series Westworld will be returning for a second season. That show had its bow early last month and has pulled decent ratings for a cable series and has also been well received by fans and critics. The first season was very expensive, though, and has not pulled viewership anywhere near the levels that Game of Thrones has seen. But its delayed viewing numbers have been strong, which factor in more heavily for the pay channels because they do not have sponsors running commercials during the live broadcast. And early indications are that the show is pulling in a sizable audience from the HBO NOW and HBO GO streaming services as well. This is also a very high-profile project and it is likely that the second season renewal was pretty much assumed from the start barring a total ratings collapse. The second season–which will be ten episodes–will take some time to complete and it will air in either Fall 2017 or early 2018 according to the network’s programming president. The show just aired its seventh episode and has three more left for if first season.

This is the latest renewal for a Fall series and it joins already renewed The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Van Helsing, and others (you can see the status of all the currently airing and returning shows at this link). Expect more renewal announcements over the next month as Fall winds down and we head into the Winter hiatus. Be sure to keep an eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for updates and breaking news.