“The Gifted” is getting a new year present from FOX: A pickup for Season 2The network announced the renewal Thursday during its day at the winter TV press tour. The pickup comes with two episodes left in the show’s first season — a two-hour finale scheduled for Jan. 15.
The renewal also comes at the top of a day where network executives are very likely to face lots of questions about FOX’s future given the pending sale of its sister studio and other assets to Disney. Early reports suggested FOX would refocus on live sports, news and reality programming, but “The Gifted” pickup — along with earlier renewals for “The Orville” and “The Simpsons” — means there will be at least some scripted shows on FOX in 2018-19.
“The Gifted” started with pretty solid ratings (it premiered to a 1.5 among adults 18-49) but has faded some since. It averages a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.28 million viewers the night it airs.
It grows substantially with a week of delayed viewing, rising to 2.0 in the 18-49 demographic and 6.13 million viewers. FOX says that with multiplatform viewing added, the show’s total audience is 8.3 million people.
“The Gifted,” which is set in the X-Men universe, comes from Marvel Television and 20th Century Fox TV — the studio that will be separate from FOX whenever the Disney merger is done. Matt Nix is the showrunner; the cast is headed by Amy Acker, Stephen Moyer, Natalie Alyn Lind and Percy Hynes White.