'Nurse Jackie' Gets Early Season 7 Renewal at Showtime
Co-star Peter Facinelli will not return as a series regular but may still appear in some capacity.
Showtime is keeping
Nurse Jackie on duty.
The premium cable network, ahead of the
Edie Falco comedy's April 13 return, has handed out an early season-seven renewal,
The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Clyde Phillips will return as showrunner. Co-star
Peter Facinelli, however, will not be back as a series regular.
The decision to renew the comedy ahead of its season-six premiere is a rare move for Showtime, which typically waits until the new run of episodes is underway to pull the trigger. No decision has been made on whether season seven will be
Nurse Jackie's last.
For his part, the in-demand Facinelli asked to be released from his contract during season six and has already
booked the lead in NBC's family political drama pilot Odyssey. It's unclear what role his Dr. Cooper will have in season seven as the actor was able to film multiple projects during
Nurse Jackie's off-season, including all of the
Twilight movies. He may return in some capacity for multiple episodes.
"In the
twilight of season six, Peter asked to be released from his contract to pursue new creative challenges. Nothing will
eclipse the incredible contribution he made to the success of
Nurse Jackie since the
dawn of the show," said Phillips, with a nod to Facinelli's
Twilight work.
Showtime renewed
Nurse Jackie,
a co-production with Lionsgate TV, for its sixth season in June. Season five averaged 3.13 million weekly viewers -- up 14 percent year-over-year. Phillips boarded the series last season, with season seven marking his third as showrunner after he replaced co-creators
Linda Wallem and
Liz Brixius. Production will resume later this season.
For Showtime,
Nurse Jackie anchors a comedy lineup that also includes
Episodes,
Shameless and
House of Lies -- all of which have been renewed for next year -- as well as
Web Therapy. Comedy
Californication will end its run with season seven this year. The future for comedy
Happyish remains unclear following star
Philip Seymour Hoffman's death.
Roger[Season] 7 is a sweet number to end the series.