Keep or Cancel: Will Designated Survivor season 3 come to life?

Are we going to see a Designated Survivor season 3 coming up on ABC in the future? We absolutely hope so; however, for the time being such a thing is not entirely certain. The ratings are down at ABC, and competition across the board is up. This isn’t the cheapest series for ABC to produce, either.

Ultimately, we think that the second half of Designated Survivor season 2 is going to be pivotal in order to determine whether or not the show comes back for another batch of episodes! This is a show with a lot of potential, but it needs to find a way to both match that while also getting viewers psyched up to actually watch it live. That is one of the biggest struggles with almost any show these days, after all.

Let’s start here with a discussion of where the Designated Survivor season 2 ratings are at the moment. To date, the latest batch of episodes is averaging on average a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic. If we were speaking about a show on The CW, it’d be one of the highest-rated shows on the network; however, on ABC this puts Designated Survivor on par with shows like Kevin (Probably) Saves the World as sitting firmly on the bubble. It’s lost more than 30% of its audience in the demo versus the season 1 average, and if that happens again in either the second half of the season or in season 3 it feels fair to say that the show is going to be in enormous trouble.

So what does the Kiefer Sutherland series have going for it moving into the second half of the season? Let’s start with great guest stars, including Kim Raver and Michael J. Fox.

Related – Want to see more news surrounding what’s coming up on Designated Survivor season 2?

Beyond that, you also get the feeling that ABC has a lot of faith in this show being around for a while. They continue to promote it well and understand likely that Sutherland has a strong international following thanks to 24. We also do think that Designated Survivor is aided somewhat by some poorly-rated shows elsewhere. Because of the cancellation of Ten Days in the Valley, coupled with a weak Friday-night lineup and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World struggling, The Good Doctor is really the only 10:00 p.m. drama on ABC performing significantly better. How to Get Away with Murder is averaging a 0.9 and it isn’t facing cancellation buzz at all!

Do you think that a Designated Survivor season 3 is going to happen over at ABC? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the attached comments or poll below.

Meanwhile, you can like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want some other news when it comes to Designated Survivor. (Photo: ABC.)