Beauty and the Beast Renewed for 4th Season With 4 months Still To Go Before Season 3 Premieres

The CW on Friday has officially announced the renewal of its Beauty and the Beast TV series to Season 4, four months before the debut of the show's third season, which now has also been officially confirmed to be on May 21, Thursday, at the 8/7 pm time slot.

This is the second year in a row that The CW has surprisingly renewed Beauty and the Beast despite the show not doing very well in the ratings and has been frequently panned by critics. Back in July, the network's president Mark Pedowitz during the Television Critics Association summer press tour explained why. He said on record: "It has a very big international following. We brought it back because... it's a very profitable show for everybody." Also during the press tour, he teased the reporters with a few spoilers for season 3. He told them: "[Cat and Vincent are] out in public. They're a couple. They have to find a life together. [Executive producer Brad Kern] has a really good place to go in terms of their discovering cases, working together as they go forward. He is a medical doctor in the show. And you know what? He'll get his license back."

Beauty and the Beast has been developed for The CW network by Sherri Cooper and Jennifer Levin and very loosely inspired by the 1987 CBS television series of the same name. It stars Kristin Kreuk as Catherine 'Cat' Chandler, Jay Ryan as Vincent Keller, Austin Basis as J.T. Forbes, Nina Lisandrello as Tess Vargas, and Nicole Gale Anderson as Heather Chandler. The series' recurring cast for the upcoming season 3 includes Alan Van Sprang as Bob, Natasha Henstridge as Carol, Charlotte Arnold as Marissa, and Jason Gedrick in a still undisclosed role.

Aside from Beauty and the Beast, The CW previously already announced the renewal of its entire fall slate, which includes The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, Jane the Virgin, Supernatural, among others.