UnREAL is making a very real move from network TV to the land of streaming. It’s been reported today by The Hollywood Reporter (THR) that the show will make its Season 4 premiere on Hulu instead of Lifetime, which it’s called home since it premiered in 2015. After selling the season to Hulu for an above-average price, Lifetime reportedly has no plans to purchase another season.
The move was made as a desperate push to find a home for Seasons 3 and 4, THR claimed, citing unnamed sources. Notably, while Season 4 is set to make its world premiere on Hulu, Hulu does not currently have Season 3 of UnReal, which ended in April.
While it’s largely expected that Season 4 will be UnREAL’s final, Lifetime could make an about-face on the show if it pulls its numbers on Hulu, Deadline sources have claimed. Lifetime’s parent company A+E Networks continues to own the show, so Lifetime does still have the ability to air it.
There is, indeed, potential for UnREAL to prove its worth on the streaming platform. THR noted that when Season 3 debuted in February, it averaged only 270,000 viewers but saw its audience double in the following week through streaming.
UnReal is a scripted show about Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby, The WB and UPN’s Roswell ), a producer on a Bachelor-like reality show, Everlasting, who is forced to fuel scandal to please her executive producer, Quinn King (Constance Zimmer, HBO’S Entourage).
Season 1 of UnREAL garnered two Emmy nominations, one for Zimmer for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and another for Best Dramatic Writing for the pilot script.
Season 4 of UnREAL does not have a premiere date yet.
While it seems likely that Season 4 will be UnREAL’s final, showrunner Stacy Rukeyser told THR in February that she and creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro want the show to keep going past Season 4 and for “as long as we can.”