If you’re a fan of Chuck, we have some good news: You can stop eating Subway now! Multiple sources reported last night that NBC has renewed the beloved-but-fledgling series with a 13-episode order that guarantees at least one more season of Chuck Bartowski’s spy adventures. NBC officially announces its lineup later today, but indications are that Chuck might wind up airing in the dead zone of Friday nights at 8 p.m. You’ll want to make sure your DVR is working for that one.
Of course there is some bad news amid all this good (besides that terrible timeslot): According to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, the producers of Chuck had to make some major budgetary concessions to get the renewal (belt tightening is so hot right now!), which include firing at least two staff writers and one or more cast members. But before you go run and register the domain name “SaveCasey.com”, consider that the exiled character will probably come from the BuyMore. Mr. Ausiello speculates that Julia Ling, the actress who plays Morgan’s girlfriend Anna Wu, would be the unfortunately exiled player. However since Chuck himself quit working at the BuyMore at the end of the season, almost everyone there could be on the hot seat—that means even popular actors like Vik Sahay (who plays Lester), Scott Krinsky (who plays Jeff) and Mark Christopher Lawrence (who plays Big Mike) could all wind up looking for other employment come the fall.
Now that the “will it or won’t it?” drama surrounding Chuck has been sated, the bigger question for season three is how the series can sustain itself after what was a true game changing finale. For the uninitiated, Chuck downloaded a brand new intersect into his brain, which allowed him to go all Keanu Reeves-in-The Matrix-I-know-Kung-Fu on some baddies. Up until now Chuck has been a fish-out-of-water comedy, but that will all change if Chuck becomes a real spy. That narrative twist, plus the possible Fridays at 8 timeslot have us wondering if Chuck will see a season four. But that’s a story for another day. In the meantime, maybe go to the gym to start burning off all that Subway.
