The saga of NBC’s medical disaster series continues.

Trauma revolves around a group of brave first responder paramedics in San Francisco. The high-action series is populated by an ensemble cast that includes Derek Luke, Cliff Curtis, Anastasia Griffith, Kevin Rankin, Aimee Garcia, Billy Lush, Jamey Sheridan, and Taylor Kinney.

Back in October, NBC indicated they weren’t ordering any additional episodes of Trauma beyond the initial 13 episode order, effectively cancelling the series. Then, in the wake of the failure of The Jay Leno Show, they ordered seven more episodes to fill primetime space.

When Trauma returned to the NBC schedule after a three month hiatus, the ratings were even worse than they were back in November. If the execs weren’t happy with the ratings before, they were very likely regretting their decision to order additional installments.

According to the Futon Critic, NBC has now cut their additional episode order from seven to five installments. That brings the season total to 18 episodes.

The last episode of the season, and almost certainly the series, will air on April 26th. No word yet if the producers adapted episode 18 so that it could serve as a series finale or if viewers will be left hanging.

What do you think? Are you sorry that Trauma’s episode order has been cut? Are you holding onto hope that it will be back for season two?

Image courtesy NBC.