Following a strong first-season showing in which it averaged well in excess of one million viewers per episode, CTV has greenlit two more seasons (6 x 60 minutes each) of its detective thriller Cardinal.

The greenlight, which comes a day ahead of the season one finale, marks the first time CTV has placed a two-season order for a drama series. Each season features self-contained storylines based on author Giles Blunt’s series of novels John Cardinal Mysteries.

Produced by Toronto’s Sienna Films and eOne, cameras will begin rolling on season two later this summer in Sudbury and North Bay. The second season is inspired by the third novel in the series, Black Fly Season, while the third season, which will shoot in fall 2017, is based on the fourth and fifth novels in the series, By the Time You Read This and Crime Machine.

Sarah Dodd (Motive) will serve as showrunner on season two of the series, while Patrick Tarr (Saving Hope) will serve as showrunner on season three. Both of the new seasons will air during the 2017/18 broadcast cycle.

The series stars Billy Campbell (The Killing) and Karine Vanasse (Revenge) are both tapped to return for both the second and third seasons of the series.

The series’ debut episode drew an average viewership of 1.3 million to CTV, according to Numeris data. In French Canada, the series airs on Super Ecran, which also picked up the second and third seasons of the show.

Season one of the thriller was recently licensed to the BBC in the U.K., C More in Scandinavia and Calle 13 in Spain. Aubrey Nealon served as showrunner on the first six episodes of the series, which were directed by Daniel Grou (aka Podz) and executive produced by Sienna’s Julia Sereny and Jennifer Kawaja.

eOne handles international sales on the series.