Sleepy Hollow: Cancel or Renew for Season Four?

Tonight marks the end of the third season of the Sleepy Hollow TV show on FOX and it very well may end up being the series finale as well. The show has been doing very poorly in the ratings and now, the producers have made a move that will likely infuriate more than a few loyal viewers. Should this Friday night show be cancelled or renewed for a fourth season?

A supernatural police drama, Sleepy Hollow follows Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), a patriot who was killed 230 years ago. He finds himself resurrected in modern-day and partners with a female police lieutenant (Nicole Beharie). The cast also includes Lyndie Greenwood, Shannyn Sossamon, Nikki Reed, Lance Gross, and Zach Appelman.

The series was a hit in its early days but those great ratings are long gone. This season, Sleepy Hollow premiered to a 0.98 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 3.36 million viewers. Compared to the third season debut, the debut was down by a whopping 51% in the demo and down by 38% in viewership. SPOILER AHEAD.

The numbers got worse as the season progressed so the execs sent the series to Friday nights, likely hoping that the show’s loyal fans would follow and the ratings would stay at the same level. They looked stable for awhile but the numbers got even worse over the course of the rest of the season. The last couple episodes have attracted about a 0.65 rating with 2.6 million.

And now, in tonight’s finale, the producers have killed off one of the show’s lead characters — Abbie Mills, as played by Nicole Beharie. The executive producers, studio, and network released this statement to EW:

“The finale featuring the tragic death of Abbie Mills was a very dramatic ending and a bold move for the show, but Sleepy Hollow has always been known for its shocking finales. We feel we provided a wonderfully poignant conclusion for Abbie and showed some of the best moments between the Witnesses that we’ve seen on-screen. We thank Nicole Beharie for bringing Abbie and Sleepy Hollow to life. We are currently discussing season 4, and should the series be picked up for another season, we have some exciting scenarios and new avenues we want to explore.”

With such poor ratings, Sleepy Hollow, once again, is very much in danger of being cancelled. Now that one of the main characters has been killed off, should the series return? Should they bring Abbie back somehow or, is it okay that she’s gone? What do you think?