Murder in a Small Town might be returning for a third season, but it seems Fox is going to make fans wait much longer than anticipated to see what’s next for the citizens of Gibsons.
Ahead of its 2026 Upfronts presentation, Fox unveiled its fall lineup for the 2026-27 season, which brought about the disappointing news that Murder in a Small Town season 3 will not be debuting in the fall. For the first time since the show’s launch in 2024, Murder in a Small Town will not kick off its season in the fall and will instead arrive as part of the network’s midseason lineup.
Fox’s midseason slate is expected to debut sometime in January, meaning that fans will have to wait over a year for new episodes to arrive. (Season 2 signed off the air on December 2, 2025.) So why is Fox moving the show from fall to midseason?
Well, Fox has once again gone with a fall lineup that is comprised nearly entirely of unscripted programs with just a few live-action scripted series kicking off their seasons in the fall. Doc will once again be back on Tuesday nights, but rather than pairing the season’s early episodes with new episodes of Murder in a Small Town as we saw for the 2025-26 TV season, Fox will be giving the show’s time slot to Best Medicine, which will be moving up from the midseason slate on Fox.
As a result of Best Medicine season 2 arriving in the fall, Fox has decided to delay the return of Murder in a Small Town. It’s certainly a frustrating decision, as it will mean we’ll go a year without new episodes of the series, extending the show’s already long hiatus.
When season 3 does arrive in 2027, its new season will welcome a new face to the mix with Peter Gallagher joining the cast as Rod Finlayson. The character is described as being a “charismatic, uber-independent, capable yet unreliable figure, whose arrival at the Gibsons' marina on his beloved boat sets up a sequence of upheavals that Alberg and Cassandra will have to grapple with.”
Murder in a Small Town marks Gallagher’s first series regular role in a broadcast network original since NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist came to an end after just two seasons in 2021. It’ll definitely be fun to see how his character shakes things up in season 3, which is currently in production.
We'll definitely be eager to see how the move to midseason might impact Murder in a Small Town's run at Fox. While the move might seem like a reason for concern and is certainly not ideal for fans who were looking forward to the show returning in the fall, the move could prove beneficial in the long run.
The Rookie saw a major boost when ABC moved it from fall to midseason and is now heading into its ninth season. CBS is also taking a similar approach in moving several of its bigger shows from fall to midseason for the 2026-27 season, including Ghosts and Matlock, which will both shift to midseason after debuting in the fall since their respective starts.
Hopefully, this move to midseason will help Murder in a Small Town's ratings continue to grow, and this does give fans plenty of time to catch up before the show's return in 2027!
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