Switched At Birth: Season 6 Updates
Amelia Brooks Switched At Birth aired for five successful seasons and won a Peabody Award for its depiction of deaf culture, but will there be a season 6?
The award-winning ABC Family drama aired for five seasons but will there be a Switched At Birth season 6? Switched At Birth premiered its first season in 2011 on ABC Family (now Freeform) and ranked as the network’s most-watched new series. The show’s premise revolves around two teenagers – Bay Kennish (Vanessa Marano) and Daphne Vasquez (Katie Leclerc) – who were switched at birth.
The pair had very different childhoods with Bay growing up in affluent suburbia with her parents and older brother while Daphne – who is deaf – growing up in a low income, working-class neighborhood with her single mother and grandmother. After they discover the switch, the Kennish family invites the financially struggling Vasquez family to move in with them. They get to know each other and become something of a blended family, despite their differences and the traumatic circumstances that brought them all together.
Switched At Birth was ground-breaking in having multiple deaf actors among its cast and for featuring scenes shot entirely in ASL (American Sign Language), and was the recipient of a Peabody Award for its depiction of deaf culture. Despite its success, Switched At Birth season 6 won’t be happening – here’s why.
Switched At Birth Was Canceled By Freeform In 2016
In early 2016, a few months after ABC Family was rebranded as Freeform, Switched At Birth’s creator Lizzy Weiss confirmed in a tweet that the show had been canceled and would end its run after its fifth season. The fifth and final season of Switched At Birth aired in 2017 - two years after season 4 premiered. Season 5 featured the show’s milestone 100th episode and concluded with an emotional 90-minute series finale.
ABC Family’s Rebranding May Have Been A Factor
Some TV pundits suspected Switched At Birth may have been a casualty of ABC Family’s rebranding as Freeform and the network’s move to a focus on edgier content like mermaid thriller Siren and gritty teen superhero drama Cloak & Dagger. Switched At Birth had also been steadily losing viewers season by season, which was likely another factor at play in Freeform’s decision to end the show.
Switched At Birth’s Creator Is Game For A Reunion
Although Switched At Birth season 6 isn’t currently on the cards, creator Lizzy Weiss stated in a post-series finale interview with The Wrap that she’d be willing to revive the show, stating “If people want to revisit it, I won’t shut that door.”
Weiss also stated there would need to be a demand for the show to return and she’d need to have a good story to tell, however. So, there’s still a chance – however slim – that Switched At Birth could return to the small screen in the future.
