Following two weeks of record-breaking ratings, ABC has renewed their sophomore TV series, Castle, for a third season. This time around, the network’s showing more faith than ever in the series.

Castle revolves around an egotistical novelist (Nathan Fillion) who teams up with a police detective (Stana Katic) to solve crimes in the Big Apple. The drama also features Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Tamala Jones, Jon Huertas, and Seamus Dever.

Castle debuted in March 2009 and averaged a 3.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10.32 million viewers. This past September, season two got off to a slow start with a 2.3 rating and 9.26 million viewers.

Things weren’t looking so great but then the numbers showed signed of starting to pick up. In the last two weeks, Castle has hit some season record highs. Last week, with the help of a Dancing with the Stars lead-in, Castle achieved a 3.3 rating with 12.21 million total viewers. This week, the series hit a 3.5 rating and 13.86 million viewers.

That news has prompted ABC to renew Castle for a third season and to give the show its biggest episode order to date.

Season one of Castle is made up of 10 episodes. For season two, ABC ordered just 13 installments initially but, over the course of the season, upped that to 22 and then 24 episodes. Now, for season three, ABC has given Castle a full season order of 22 episodes right out of the gate.

The news is sure to make many of our readers happy. Castle was the big winner in our “Which bubble show should be renewed?” tournament.

What do you think? Are you glad to hear that Castle is being renewed? Do you think any changes should be made to the series or should things remain the same?

Image courtesy ABC.