Helix is gearing up for an epic season finale this evening. To celebrate the Season 1 milestone, Syfy decided there was no better way to entice viewers to tune in than to preempt the airing by making a big announcement. If you have been watching the drama, now would a great time to breathe a sigh of relief. Ronald D. Moore’s disease-centric program has just been renewed by the cable station for a second season.
Syfy announced the news on Friday, noting that the show’s ratings were key in the decision to renew Helix for a second season. While Syfy doesn’t have any shows that crush across demographics quite as hard as something like The Walking Dead, the show has helped the channel to find a niche, becoming the #2 cable network among adults 18-49. Helix is a big part of that, averaging more than 2 million viewers each week. The new season will be similar to Season 1 in format, consisting of 13 episodes that are set to hit the network in the winter of 2015.
The Season 2 renewal overall isn’t much of a surprise. As noted prior, ratings are good at the network, and the show has been pretty high profile since it was first announced, thanks to its interesting science fiction premise and the list of talent involved, most notably Ronald D. Moore. He’s best known to science fiction fans as the creator of Battlestar Galactica, which gives him a ton of credibility inside geek culture, enough that a majority would willingly give any of his projects a shot. So, famous names plus good ratings plus a network that isn’t exactly CBS were all working in Helix’s favor here when it came to getting the green light.
Helix premiered in January of 2014 and has aired on the network on Fridays for the last several months, leading to tonight’s very hairy finale. Syfy has already made the first five minutes of the episode available, which can be previewed, below.
Helix centers around some scientists working for the Centers For Disease Control. They head down to the Arctic to investigate some irregularities, and well, as you see in the above preview, everything doesn’t exactly go according to plan. In short, it’s the type of show you really should watch from the beginning. So, get your act together and find it. It’s absolutely worth your time.
