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.
My veteran husband and myself just finished watching all 4 seasons straight hr8ough on Hulu. Even though it was cancelled many years ago, we’d LOVE to see it renewed and revived. Not just finished with the already-prepared season 5 but continued way beyond that!! In the years since the show’s cancellation, our US service members have lived through a plethora of experiences to provide amazing inspiration to produce years upon years of episodes. Their stories are screaming to be told! Our 20 yr old son is enlisting soon, some day his story may need to be told. Even as late… Read more »
I never knew the show existed until I watched it through Amazon Prime. Great first two season’s, but what made the producers change the show’s opening theme? Change is fine if it beats what was in place before. This wasn’t case here. That new theme song ruined the relationship the original theme brought to the experience. Too bad.
Loved the show..it something I was able to relate to… pity you guys never got around to finishing season 5.. very sad.
This Show is / was Absolutely Amazing Period!!! Bring it Back Pleaes
This was such a great series. Should have done Season 5.
These stories are very inspirational showing a glimpse of how we are protected everyday by the armed forces and their sacrifice.
Me and my family really Loved the show. We felt for the characters. We cried when Hector died. We looked foward to Ryan becoming a General. And we wanted to see Jonas and Molly RETIRE from the Army.
So sad to not see an end to this series! What a great show….
The people who decided to cancel The Unit must have rocks in their head!!!! It was one of the best shows on the air. All I can figure out is that CBS has gone left wing and the show was too pro-America and military. Someone should check into the powers that be at CBS and ABC and NBC. We just done watch any of them since they have mixed the good shows.
My husband and just watched all 4 seasons of the Unit and disappointed that it just ended! Never knowing what is next! Please bring back!
We need to unite. This show ended with over 9 million viewers. This is a great show and we should get a closer. David Mamet and Eric Hanley we need this. Even as ac return to to the mini series. Please consider this. This is
Shouldve have kept the show. Just saw it and it was awesome and I hate non recent shows typically. I cried and loved Jonas. Should not be surprised tv got rid of it and people love it.
Just finished watching the whole series again and it was awesome a season 5 should be done
Just finished re-watching the unit all seasons and I feel you could bring it back even after its been a.few years. There is plenty of room for new stories even having Jonas take Ryans place which would be a natural progression for him. I want to see this back its better than some of the new military style TV series on currently
Bring it on guys, you cant just stop it now.
BRING THE UNIT BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Faut qu’ils continue c’est terrible cette série, jusque parce l’audience est un peut en dessous de 10.000.000 alors on arrête ? Tout le monde adorent cette série THE UNIT C’EST TOP