Cable news network drama series The Newsroom has been renewed for a third season by HBO.

Jeff Daniels, who plays show lead Will McAvoy, confirmed the renewal late tonight; tweeting:

 

News of the renewal should come as no surprise, with the president of HBO programming Michael Lombardo saying, “The odds [of a renewal] are excellent, we’re enormously happy with the show.

“Conversations with Aaron Sorkin are all about scheduling as he has other commitments. If we can figure the scheduling, I will be shocked if you would not be hearing about a renewal soon. The numbers this season are surpassing last season.”

The timing of the renewal is unusual for HBO, who usually announce the renewal of a series early in the current season’s run. The Newsroom’s current season is now less than 2 days away from its conclusion.

There had been rumors the show’s Academy and Emmy award-winning showrunner Aaron Sorkin would not return for a third season. Sources close to Sorkin suggest he is currently attached to eight other projects, which explains the scheduling issues Lombardo speaks of. However, Sorkin also admitted the stress of writing for the show had started to get to him. Following a major shake-up of writing staff at the end of season 1, Sorkin was also forced to order expensive re-shoots for the early episodes of season 2, which effectively eliminated comedian Paton Oswalt’s highly publicized new role in the show.

The third season is expected to have a longer total run-time than the current season, as the re-shoots forced this season down to just nine episodes. It remains to be seen if the third season will premiere next summer, around the time the previous two seasons began. With Sorkin’s hectic schedule, many expect the next season to be pushed back by six months.

‘The Newsroom’ was on break last Sunday for the Labor Day weekend. The remaining two episodes of the season will air on Sunday, September 8, and Septermber 15 on HBO.

The remaining episode is a two-parter, following the November 2012 presidential election, and wrapping up the Genoa storyline.

Watch Aaron Sorkin and the cast talk about ‘The Newsroom’ below: