Spoilers ahead for the series finale of Nancy Drew on The CW.
Nancy Drew has officially come to an end in the 2023 TV schedule after four seasons, with a series finale that involved vengeance, fire, soulmates, and a happy ending for Nancy and Ace to go along with the less happy news that their spiritual adventure left them unable to reincarnate. Plus, the hint that Ace may have been a Hardy boy all along (although not of the Hulu variety)! This was the end of actress Kennedy McMann's journey as the young detective, but is it the end of her time in primetime as a leading lady? Well, the answer to that question is complicated for a few reasons.
McMann actually debuted in what could be her next lead role already, after she was cast in the backdoor pilot of The Good Doctor's potential spinoff alongside Felicity Huffman. The pilot, called "The Good Lawyer," aired back in March and introduced the Nancy Drew star as attorney Joni DeGroot, who struggles with her obsessive compulsive disorder while trying to become a trial lawyer. The pilot subverted my expectations and was solid enough that I wouldn't have been surprised by a series order, even when The Good Doctor was renewed without any updates for its spinoff.
But the entertainment industry has gotten a lot more complicated since March, due to the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike. At the time of writing, in late August when fall TV season would usually just be weeks away, The Good Lawyer is one of a few ABC projects that still have an uncertain future. The cast options for the potential show were up in mid-August, which would suggest that a show is dead, but SAG-AFTRA rules mean that any cast hold period extends for the duration of a strike.
So, under normal circumstances, a lack of a series order by late August would mean that Kennedy McMann likely would not be leading a primetime series on a major TV network shortly after the end of Nancy Drew. That's not the case these days, although the odds likely aren't getting any better the longer that ABC takes to announce a decision. The Rookie: Feds and Home Economics are in the same boat, although they would be returning series rather than new shows like The Good Lawyer.
There's still hope for Nancy Drew fans that Kennedy McMann will be back within the next TV season, even if she would be playing a very different character than Nancy. It's also worth noting that even if the strikes end ASAP and ABC immediately announced a series order for The Good Lawyer, it's unlikely that the Good Doctor spinoff would debut before the end of the year. At this point, the fall season for network TV is likely to consist of reality options, reruns, and any shows like NBC's Magnum P.I. that already had some episodes banked before the strikes began.
For now, you can always check out "The Good Lawyer" backdoor pilot with The Good Doctor streaming via Hulu subscription, and/or revisit earlier episodes of Nancy Drew with an HBO Max subscription.
