Manhattan fans can take heart. WGN America said Thursday (April 16) that production has begun on season two of the drama, which chronicles the rocky Los Alamos, N.M., road to the development of the atomic bomb.

The series is shot in Santa Fe and produced by Lions Gate Television, Skydance Television and Tribune Studios.

The series will start up again in the fall and has added former CSI star William Peterson to the cast.

Manhattan's executive producers are Sam Shaw, Thomas Schlamme, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross and Dustin Thomason.

The drama series was renewed in October, having averaged 1.2 million viewers in its freshman season (Live +7), per Nielsen.

William Petersen will look to take Manhattan via way of Los Alamos.

Marking his return to television, the former CSI star is now a member of  the cast of WGN America’s Manhattan, which beging production on its second season next month.

Petersen, who deivered a 10-season Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated run as Gil Grissom on CSI, will now portray Colonel Emmett Darrow, a religious and mysterious military officer at Los Alamos.

Returning cast for the series, produced by Lionsgate Television, Skydance Television and Tribune Studios, and expected to bow later this year,  includes John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan.

WGN America continues to ramp up its original series production, with the recent straight-to-series order of Underground, which joins Manhattan, Outsiders, Ten Commandments and Salem.  Viewers can catch up on the latter, as WGN America will encore the entire rookie season on April 4, the day before Salem's second season bows at 10 p.m. (ET).

WGN America’s drama series Manhattan, an imagining of the people, science and internal conflicts that went on during the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb late in World War II, won the 2015 SXSW Jury Award for Excellence in Title Design, besting 22 other film and television finalists, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Marvel Studios), American Horror Story 4: Freakshow (FX), Godzilla (Warner Bros.), 22 Jump Street (Columbia Pictures) and The Leftovers (HBO). Dan Gregoras, creative director at Imaginary Forces, illustrated the winning title design. Manhattan’s main title sequence can be viewed here. A full list of winners of 2015 SXSW Film Awards is here.

Manhattan, which debuted in 2014, will return for a second season later this year (see this story). Earlier, John Lindley, the director of photography, won the American Society of Cinematographers’ Outstanding Achievement Award in a Television Movie, Miniseries, or Pilot for his work on the premiere episode of the series, “You Always Hurt the One You Love.”

WGN will venture into the original unscripted series arena with the 2015 debut of two shows, Outlaw Country and Wrestling With Death.

Outlaw Country, which debuts Feb. 24 with seven original episodes, will follow the crime fighting exploits of Missouri law enforcement brothers Steve and Mike Cook, said network officials. The one-hour docudrama is executively produced by Erik Bischoff and Jason Hervey for Bischoff Hervey Entertainment, said network officials.

Wrestling With Death follows the Arkansas-based Latham family who serve as morticians by day and professional wrestlers by night. The 12-episode series will premiere Jan. 13 and is executively-produced by Leftfield Pictures’ Brent Montgomery and David George (Pawn Stars). 

The unscripted series join WGN America’s scripted series Salem, Manhattan and Ten Commandments.

WGN America has renewed its drama series Manhattan on the heels of the show’s season one finale Sunday.

The series, which chronicles events leading up to the development of the first atomic bomb, is averaging 1.2 million viewers in its freshman season  (Live +7). The series finale is set for Oct. 19 at 10 p.m.

The second season will debut in 2015.

Manhattan is created and written by Sam Shaw, directed by Thomas Schlamme and produced by Lionsgate Television, Skydance Television and Tribune Studios.

 “Manhattan represents the kind of high-quality original series we aim to deliver at WGN America, and we couldn't be more thrilled with the show’s widespread critical acclaim and its loyal audience," said Matt Cherniss, President and General Manager, WGN America. "Sam, Tommy and the talented cast and creative team have so brilliantly brought to life the world of the Manhattan Project and we can’t wait to see what secrets and surprises await us in season two.”

WGN will add as many as two more original series to its programming slate in 2015, network officials said Wednesday.

The network has greenlit a straight-to-series order for its newest scripted drama Titans, which follows a family of outsiders who will protect their world and defend their way of life by any means necessary, said network officials.

In addition, the network has started pre-production on a second series, Underground, which chronicles the movement of Southern slaves who travelled through the underground railroad, said network officials. Both series will be produced by Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and Tribune Studios for an expected 2015 premiere.

The series would join Salem and Manhattan on the network’s scripted series roster.

 “These projects, each exploring a world we find to be unique and fascinating, continue our aggressive expansion into original scripted programming,” said Matt Cherniss, president and general manager, WGN America and Tribune Studios in a statement. “Everyone at WGN America is pleased to enter this next phase of our growth with Sony Pictures Television as an important partner on these projects, along with such talented creators and producers.”