‘Zoo’ season 3 spoilers: Gracie Dzienny promoted to series regular

With the third season of “Zoo” preparing to launch on CBS in the summer, today news started to break that helps to fit some of the pieces of the puzzle into place.

According to a report from Deadline, Gracie Dzienny (“Chasing Life”) is officially a series regular on the show moving forward. This move comes after she made her first appearance as the older Clementine in the closing minutes of the finale, which suggested that her father Mitch (played by Billy Burke) could still be out there somewhere alive. The show’s evolved into a very different sort of post-apocalyptic crisis since the animal virus, but the possibility also remains that this issue could at the same time be floating around still out there.

Given the way in which the show ended things, it is easy to understand why this promotion would happen — also, given a notable death in the second season, there was room in the ensemble for another key player. The search for Mitch will most-likely be a key component in the early going of this coming season, and after that, the show may then opt to move along to another unconfirmed element of the mythology.

The second season of “Zoo” generated down-the-middle ratings for CBS, with the main source of its appeal being seemingly the fun factor that comes from watching the over-the-top effects and all of the animals. It’s a show that established in the early going a tone similar to that of a popcorn movie, and that may be how it has since established itself as one that emphasizes big, dramatic action set pieces to go along with the fun factor and twists here and there.

For some additional news when it comes to “Zoo,” including episode reviews of the second season, visit our show archive. (Photo: CBS.)