WGN America is going 2-for-2, renewing both of its first two original dramas. Ahead of Sunday’s Season 1 finale of the cable network’s Manhattan, the period drama has been picked up for a second season to begin production next spring for a 2015 debut. It joins WGNA’s first original drama series Salem, which was renewed in May, three episodes into its freshman run.

While Manhattan could not match the record-breaking debut of Salem, the Manhattan Project drama received strong reviews and averaged a solid 1.223 million total viewers in Live+7 viewing on Sunday nights. “Manhattan represents the kind of high-quality original series we aim to deliver at WGN America,” said WGNA president Matt Cherniss.

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Created by Sam Shaw, directed by Thomas Schlamme and produced by Lionsgate Television, Skydance Television and Tribune Studios, Manhattan is set against the backdrop of the mission to build the world’s first atomic bomb. The series follows the brilliant but flawed scientists and their families in Los Alamos as they attempt to coexist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives.

Manhattan stars John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Daniel Stern, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Katja Herbers, Alexia Fast, Christopher Denham, Harry Lloyd, Michael Chernus and Eddie Shin. Shaw and Schlamme executive produce with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross and Dustin Thomason. The series is filmed on location in New Mexico.