You can relax, Chuck fans. He’s coming back.

Sure it’s been a foregone conclusion since rumors surfaced on Wednesday, but it’s never safe to put faith in Internet chatter before there’s confirmation. Well, now we’ve got confirmation, just in time to enjoy that final season 4 episode in peace.

The news was first announced on Deadline.com. The official Chuck pickup means that the show will join Parenthood and Harry’s Law on NBC’s next season.

With a whole bunch of new pilots on order, this might be it (along with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, of course) for NBC in the fall. Three NBC shows still await decisions, which are most likely going to trend toward the negative: Law & Order: Los Angeles, The Event and Outsourced.

NBC will announce its official 2011-2012 schedule on Monday, so we will have to wait until then to know exactly what the network will look like. With The Event presumably gone from Monday nights, it’s likely that Chuck will be paired with one of the new programs. Grimm, a police procedural set in a world of fairy tales, seems the most obvious choice, while the funky procedural Awake (it’s been compared to Inception) is another possibility.

We may also get the reasoning behind NBC’s picks and passes at that point: will the various “Save Chuck” fan movements get a shout-out? Will NBC admit to being terrified at the thought of angering the super-fans? I hope so. That would be cool.

Sure, we’re only talking about a half-season order. But did you ever, really, truly, in your heart believe that Chuck would make it even this far?

Me neither. It’s good to be wrong.

Are you excited about the renewal of Chuck? Were you surprised? How do you expect season 5 to do? Let us know your comments and opinions below!

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(Image courtesy of NBC)

Laurel Brown

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include ChuckModern FamilySupernaturalMad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.