NBC Renews Canadian Medical Drama ‘Transplant’ for Season 2

After acquiring Canadian medical drama “Transplant” in May for its fall lineup amid a stunted year for U.S. television production, NBC is renewing the show for a second season.

“Transplant” centers on Syrian doctor Bashir “Bash” Hamed, played by Hamza Haq, who has fled to Canada with his younger sister and is trying to rebuild his medical career. According to the network, the first season averaged a 0.7 rating among 18- to 49-year-olds and 5.7 million viewers overall in live-plus-seven-day Nielsen ratings; adding digital viewing, the show scored a 1.8 among the 18-49 set. The network says the series averages 7.7 million total viewers in linear and digital viewing to date.

The popular 13-episode Canadian series debuted on American TV screens with a 0.4 rating and just shy of 4 million viewers.

Alongside Haq, the series stars Laurence Leboeuf, John Hannah, Jim Watson, and Ayisha Issa. Creator Joseph Kay serves as executive producer along with Jocelyn Deschenes, Bruno Dube, Randy Lennox, Virginia Rankin, Jeremy Spry and Tara Woodbury. Developed at CTV, “Transplant” is produced by Sphère Média Plus in association with CTV and NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. NBCUniversal Global Distribution distributes “Transplant” worldwide.

NBC, like other major broadcast networks, acquired series from outside of the U.S. to fill its fall TV schedule amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has curbed active filming and production through much of 2020.