‘Mr. Robot’ renewed for second season before premiere even airs on USA

Does USA finally have their next big hit in “Mr. Robot”? Even though the pilot episode has not even aired yet (it does so tonight), the Christian Slater series is going to be back for a second season. This comes after the network announced that more than two million people have already sampled the first episode in some variety, and the majority of the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

To us, this is a victory that the network really needed, given that we are at a time when “White Collar” and “Covert Affairs” are over, “Graceland” and “Royal Pains” have lower ratings, and really “Suits” is the whole series we would currently consider to be a big-time hit. This is also a big victory for Slater, given that this is a guy known at this point for starring in a variety of different series that end up meeting quick cancellations.

In a statement, USA Network president Chris McCumber had the following to say in confirming the news:

“We knew from the moment we read Sam Esmail’s provocative script, and witnessed the brilliant performances of Rami Malek and Christian Slater, that Mr. Robot is a stand-out series that is unlike anything currently on television … The overwhelmingly positive fan reactions to the pilot and the broad sampling of it, reaffirms our confidence in the series, and we’re excited to see where this timely drama will take us for Season 2.”

This renew-before-the-premiere strategy is something that is employed often by Starz for many of its series, and it should help the writers to have plenty of time to come up with a great continuation for the story.