Much to the dismay of the show’s loyal followers, The Unit was cancelled by CBS in May. The series’ viewership had declined in its later years but, despite being preempted several times, still attracted 9.67 million viewers in season four.
The Unit was supposedly being seriously considered to continue in first-run syndication but the deal didn’t work out, likely because of production costs. Sadly, while the military drama and Dennis Haysbert, Regina Taylor, Robert Patrick, and Scott Foley will be around in syndication for years to come, we won’t be seeing season five of The Unit.
It turns out that the writers had a full plan for year five which Executive Producer Shawn Ryan was expecting to be the show’s last. He pitched the storyline ideas to the CBS execs but ultimately they weren’t interested.
At the recent TCA press tour, Ryan shared with The Futon Critic what would have happened. He said, “It was going to be a whole new show in the sense that we were going to be training some young people, Bob was going to be training some people for a whole new organization. Jonas was finally going to be seeing his run end.”
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Ryan continued, “The final season was going to be, I figured the fifth season was going to be the last… It was going to be a long, sort of final mission for Jonas. He’s not medically cleared, Mac has to go in and sort of change the medical records so that Jonas can keep on [going on missions]. We had a whole thing planned, it was going to be good.”
Of the cancellation, Ryan points to CBS’ last-minute decision to save NBC’s discarded Medium series. If things had been reversed and The Unit “had been owned by Paramount and Medium had been owned by 20th Century Fox, we’d be making the fifth season of The Unit right now. I don’t know how else to say that.”
What do you think? Do the plans for season five sound like a good way for the military drama to finish?
Image courtesy CBS.
THE UNIT can go anywhere and sell! Don’t let CBN burn your best! GO GO GO!!!
Pleaaaaaase. am basically begging.
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NO! U can’t finish the series like that. At least finish it in style. Make the fifth series the last. It wud b a shame to not finish it. CMON. Just the last series.
This show was great. They took off one of the best shows around I just think they needed a better way to put the word out to viewers that the show was on. They should put it back in for season five love this show.
My Favourite Show… And im Never going to see the real end to it.. This is Dissapointing..
Unbeilevable, taking a show like the unit off for some nonsense
I mean the Medium really who the hell watches that?
they should take some of these stupid shows that nobody watches off the air and put the unit back on. how can they just leave us empty handed with the whole story? i want to find out if Grey gets kicked out of the unit and if molly and jonas finally get back together
pls dnt stop the show,we were following it.pls dnt
me and my family love that show. why did thay stop it.
I never saw the unit on CBS I just got hooked when it came on the FX staion in my area. I cannot believe I never saw it before it is the “BEST” series I have ever seen, I have friends that come to my home just to watch it! I could not believe it was canceled. PLEASE bring the show back it is the greatest most thilling show I have ever seen.
Stupid CBS i never saw a greatier show , great script , great gear , u can really tell that guys ho were making that show are military men , i would do anything to put that show back in air
well not ban but take it off
i think they should put it back on i just watched season 4 again i would love to watch season 5 why would they ban such a great show
That’s terrible…they cancel a great show like The Unit to save the Medium..that show SUCKS! Watched it a couple of times & didnt like it – These 2 shows don’t even compare! CBS SUCKS!