Barbee Works to Extend Jericho’s Life‏

The second season finale of “Jericho” airs tonight at 10 p.m. EST on CBS and while CBS has given the show the axe for a second time, fans of the post-apocolyptic thriller shouldn’t lose hope that this will be the last time they’ll see the series.

Executive producer Carol Barbee confirmed that there are negotiations in place with some cable networks to pick up the series for a third season.

“I can’t really say [much] about specifics, and, … partially, it’s because I’m not the one having those conversations,” Barbee said. “[CBS] Paramount [Television, which produces the show,] has been pursing it, and our agents have been into that, so, you know, I am pushing those people and coming up with ideas to have those people pursue.”

There were several ideas that have been floated, and there was some interest, but we’ll have to see,” she said. “It wasn’t something that could be sewn up before we were going to air the finale. … It would have been better had we been able to announce one with the other, but it just didn’t happen that fast.”

The cast and crew were informed of the cancellation last week and CBS has chosen the alternative ending for the series to air tonight. There were two endings–one that would involve a cliffhanger to lead into the third season and another that offered fans some closure while offering hints of where season three could go. CBS will air the “closure” ending tonight.

And should the show not get picked up by a network, there is hope in other avenues of new media distribution.

“There’s definitely an Internet series to be had, and we always talked about a graphic novel, and … a movie,” Barbee said. “I mean, there are lots of things that I could easily see as a way to continue the story.”

There will be a few hurdles to jump. Currently actors and production staff have been released to pursue other projects. In addition, the sets have been dismantled on the backlot used to film the series.