‘Elementary’ Gets Reduced Season 6 Order From CBS

“Elementary” will have a shorter run next season.

According to Spoiler TV, CBS Corporation CEO Leslie Moonves announced during the network’s annual Upfront press breakfast that Season 6 of the crime drama will only consist of 13 episodes. Moonves also confirmed speculations that Season 6 of the Sherlock Holmes series, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu in the lead roles, will premiere midseason.

Like “Elementary” Season 6, “Code Black” Season 3 also got a reduced 13-episode order from the network. Moonves said that the decision to bring back both shows for a shorter run is a new tactic CBS is trying to keep originals on the air throughout the whole season.

READ: “Elementary” star Lucy Liu books role on “Difficult People”

“One of the changes in having so much midseason is that, look, repeats aren’t working as well as they used to,” Moonves said. “It’s good to have originals all the way through, so if you take a ‘Code Black,’ it was on Wednesday night and doing decently on Wednesday night. There’s no reason that ‘Criminal Minds’ couldn’t come off for a short period of time and you put in ‘Code Black’ and you continue with originals all the way through.”

“Same with ‘Elementary’ on a Sunday night or a Thursday night,” Moonves continued. “So you have a lot more leeway to do things.”

This is the first time “Elementary” has gotten a 13-episode season. The first five seasons of the Rob Doherty-created series all had 24 episodes each.

In related news, “Elementary” wraps its fifth season run this week. The season finale marks the return of Mara Tres leader, El Halcon (Jon Huertas). In the trailer, Sherlock (Miller) pays El Halcon a visit after the private investigator finds out that a group of his men violently gate-crashed a gathering of a rival gang.

“Three men who attacked the party had very distinctive facial tattoos,” Sherlock tells El Halcon in the preview clip.

El Halcon admits that it was his men who attacked the party, but insists that the attack was retaliation for what the rival gang did to his sister. It’s unclear who the rival gang is, but because “Elementary” is seemingly ending its SBK storyline in the finale, it’s likely that the gang who harmed El Halcon’s sister was none other than SBK.

As the NYPD tries to stop the gang war, Sherlock and Joan (Liu) — as revealed in the synopsis for the finale — continue to look for evidence that will prove that Tyus Wilcox (Stephen Rider) is the leader of SBK.

“Everything that happened these last few days is because of you,” Tyus tells Joan over the phone in the trailer.

“It’s also the reason you’re going to prison,” Joan replies.

The trailer also reveals that Shinwell was killed because someone from SBK found Joan’s number in his phone. Also in the preview clip, Sherlock is worried that the one responsible for Shinwell’s murder might get away from it. “He’s a cold blooded killer and he’s going to get away from everything,” an upset Sherlock says in the video.

“Elementary” Season 5 finale, titled “Hurt Me, Hurt You,” airs on Sunday, May 21 at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS.