‘Switched at Birth’ season 5 will be ten episodes, premiere in January 2017

The wait for more “Switched at Birth” continues to be an incredibly long one. We first heard earlier this year from creator Lizzy Weiss that for some unforeseen reason, the show is not returning to Freeform until 2017. We don’t quite understand that, since you’re really counting on diehard fans to remember that you’re on the air. (Blame the network; don’t blame the show.)

Anyhow, we at least now have some silver lining from Weiss on Twitter (see HERE): At least it’s going to be in January 2017. She also made it clear that the final season has ten episodes, which means that most of this story will simply be spent building towards the end. The series finale will probably air at some point in March / early April depending on when in January the show premieres, and yes, we figure it will most likely be emotional.

The entire “Switched at Birth” team has a challenge giving this show a fitting end in that span of time, mostly because when we last saw Bay and Daphne, they were doing work in other parts of the world. You have to find a way to bring everyone together, establish conflict, find happiness, and then also set up the future. That’s a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short period of time.

Hopefully, at some other point along the way this year, we’ll get a chance to learn a thing or two more about the final season; with that said, we imagine that it’ll be a slow trickle of news. There’s no reason for anyone involved to give too much away now when the show is still so far away from returning.