Spoilers for Season 5 are discussed below.

Showtime has renewed Ray Donovan for Season 6, which isn’t huge news because Showtime doesn’t really cancel series. What’s more interesting is the announcement that the series will relocate to New York City — a major departure from the base it’s had in Los Angeles the last five years. LA has always been essential to Ray’s narrative, since he is a Hollywood fixer. But given the major death that occurred this season, it looks like both Ray and the show are going to be changing things up in big ways.

The show definitely needs some kind of a shakeup, since Season 5 has felt extremely repetitive (minus Abby’s passing), and the fixer plot has been more useless than usual. The idea that Ray would be going up against other fixers was a fun one, but the show hasn’t done enough with it. The family dynamic, which has always been the show’s strongest asset, has also suffered this year as everyone’s stories were so scattered.

In a press release announcing the renewal, Gary Levine, President of Programming, Showtime Networks Inc said that,

”RAY DONOVAN broke new ground this season with its deeply emotional and innovative approach to Abby’s passing, without sacrificing any of the intensity that has been its trademark. We so appreciate that David Hollander is never satisfied with the status quo, and his creative plan for moving the show to New York reflects his relentless ambition for this series.”

Showrunner David Hollander added,

“For our show, creatively, New York is exciting. Fashion, media, finance, theatre, culture. It’s going to present new challenges for Ray Donovan which mean new opportunities for us as dramatists. Ray came to Los Angeles to build a life for himself and his family. They’re not there anymore. Ray’s career has changed and he is looking for a place to rebuild his life. Ray thinks he went to New York to help his daughter. He’s going to find out he’s there to help himself.”

The series will finish up its currently season on Sunday, October 29th, with the upcoming season starting production in early 2018.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments on the show’s location change, as well as what you’ve thought of Season 5 so far!

Ray Donovan airs Sunday nights on Showtime.