USA Renews MR. ROBOT Prior to Series Premiere

USA Network today announced a second season pickup of the captivating one-hour original drama series MR. ROBOT, ahead of the series premiere tonight at 10/9c. This buzzy breakout series has already received significant critical acclaim, prestigious industry honors and has garnered nearly 3 million views in its unprecedented pre-linear launch across a wide array of digital platforms. The second season, which will include a minimum of 10 episodes, will air in 2016.

"We knew from the moment we read Sam Esmail's provocative script, and witnessed the brilliant performances of Rami Malek and Christian Slater, that Mr. Robot is a stand-out series that is unlike anything currently on television," said USA Network President Chris McCumber. "The overwhelmingly positive fan reactions to the pilot and the broad sampling of it, reaffirms our confidence in the series, and we're excited to see where this timely drama will take us for season two."

"Sam Esmail has captured and distilled our ongoing cultural conversation about identity, privacy, value and self-worth," said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. "We are all talking about the central themes of Mr. Robot - Sam has just done it in a completely original and uniquely compelling way."

MR. ROBOT won over audiences at this year's South By Southwest Festival in March, winning the coveted audience award in the Episodics category. The series was also named an official selection of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival in April.

To-date, more than 2.7MM viewers sampled the series pilot, which was available four weeks early as part of the network's unique windowing strategy. Beginning May 27, USA made the pilot available via On Demand platforms including Xfinity On Demand, USANetwork.com, the USA Now App (iOS, Android, Xbox One), Hulu and YouTube, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Vudu, XBOX Video, PlayStation Video, and M-GO. The pilot was also available via Twitch, IMDb, EW.com, THR.com, Telemundo.com, Terra.com, Latina.com, The Verge.com and 22 sites within the Crave Online.

MR. ROBOT follows Elliot (Malek), a young programmer who works as a cyber-security engineer by day and as a vigilante hacker by night. Elliot finds himself at a crossroads when the mysterious leader (Slater) of an underground hacker group recruits him to destroy the firm he is paid to protect. Compelled by his personal beliefs, Elliot struggles to resist the chance to take down the multinational CEOs he believes are running (and ruining) the world. The series also stars Portia Doubleday ("Her"), Carly Chaikin ("Suburgatory") and Martin Wallström ("Simple Simon).

From Universal Cable Productions, MR. ROBOT is from writer and executive producer Sam Esmail ("Comet") and executive producers Anonymous Content's Steve Golin ("True Detective") and Chad Hamilton ("Breakup at a Wedding").