Dallas To Return For Season 3 On TNT

“Dallas” will ride back for a third season on TNT, the network announced on Tuesday.

“Dallas’ has built a passionately loyal following with its expertly woven storylines, clever twists and turns, and numerous outstanding performances by a cast that spans generations,” Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM), said in a statement. “Although we said goodbye to Larry Hagman and his iconic character J.R. Ewing this year, ‘Dallas’ has many more stories left to tell, and the Ewing clan will continue to honor J.R.‘s memory by keeping its audience surprised and delighted.”

“Dallas” wrapped up its second season earlier this month on TNT, solving the mystery of who killed J.R. Ewing, something Patrick Duffy had previously promised fans would happen.

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“We’re going to tie it up with a very neat bow the whole thing that happened because Larry died. We have to set the character of J.R. where it’s going to be for the next 10 years, we have to resolve the fact that there’s not going to be another actor coming in to play J.R., so we finish all that off. Now we can go back to original story telling,” Patrick told AccessHollywood.com, ahead of the show’s Season 2 finale. “We’re not flying by the seat of our pants, so that gets done, which is on everybody’s mind, who shot him. But, by resolving it, we put so many really interesting irons in the fire with the established characters for next season that everybody’s going to immediately be saying, ‘Oh isn’t that amazing that’s who shot him. What’s going to happen with so and so and this!’ And that’s what we survived on for 13 years in the old days and hopefully it still works, ‘cause people love it.”

For those who missed the episode, the character of J.R. masterminded his own death (he was suffering from a terminal illness and had just days to live), and had it blamed on Cliff Barnes, who is now rotting away in a Mexican prison.

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“Dallas” returns to TNT in early 2014.

— Jolie Lash