Kiefer Sutherland has revealed there will be no fourth season of Designated Survivor.


The drama series was rescued from cancellation by Netflix last year, which picked up the show for a run of 10 episodes after original US network ABC decided against renewing it for season 3.

However, according to the show’s star, it is unlikely the show will go any further.

“I don’t think series 4 is going to happen,” Sutherland told Simon Mayo on his Scala Radio show. “We had an amazing experience with Netflix, and a kind of freedom that was wonderful – but the reality is, because the contracts were so complicated and different from network television to Netflix etc, they didn’t book a lot of the actors that were on the show, and they took other jobs, and I don’t blame them for a second for that.”

He adds that as a result of contract complications season 4 would be “very complicated and difficult” to produce, and that he is ready to move on to other projects.

“So I think doing a season 4 would be very complicated and difficult, and the truth is, I loved making that show – I also miss aspects of what I enjoyed about 24, which was something that was really visceral and physical, and so I think its time for us all to go and find something new to do,” he said.

The series sees Sutherland play Tom Kirkman, a Secretary for Housing in the United States Government who becomes President-by-default after an explosion obliterated everyone ahead of him in the line of succession.

Its most recent season saw Kirkman get his hands dirty on the campaign trail as he sought to become the elected Commander in Chief for the first time.


Netflix has begun to wield the cancellation axe a bit more freely in recent months, dispatching of a number of its underperforming shows in the first half of 2019. Fans who were delighted to see the show saved will be sad to see it’s lifespan cut short once again.