‘Nurse Jackie’ Renewed for Fifth Season With New Show-Runner

First she headed to rehab, and then on to a fifth season — Showtime has renewed “Nurse Jackie” for another year, for a new season that will begin production in late 2012.

The show’s current season, which will wrap up on June 17th, has presented a lot of necessary changes for pill-addicted emergency room nurse Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco). She hit rock bottom in an amusingly dark fashion, her marriage has fallen apart, she’s attempting to return to work while keeping clean and she’s become embroiled in a custody battle with her husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa), who’s asked for a divorce after learning about her infidelity and drug use. According to Showtime, “Nurse Jackie” will face another major switch-up — “Dexter” executive producer and show-runner Clyde Phillips (also the creator of “Suddenly Susan” and 1999’s “Get Real”) is being brought in to head up the series. 

According to Showtime’s President of Entertainment David Nevins, “Clyde brings a unique combination of skills in both comedy and drama, and he is a master at making entertaining and compelling television. We are so thrilled with the series’ performance this year, and we know that with the incomparable Edie Falco in front of the camera, the fifth season of Nurse Jackie will be even better.”

Current show-runners Linda Wallem and Liz Brixius, who created the series with Evan Dunsky, announced their plans to move on last month. Ironically enough, “Dexter” is a show that’s been hampered by its maintaining of the status quo over its run — it’ll be interesting to see what the show-runner does to a series that’s just seriously dug into its premise of a functional drug addict.