'Battlestar Galactica' Finale will run three hours!

[Brian Damage]

The final episode of "Battlestar Galactica" will indeed be three hours long, and SciFi Channel plans to air the end of what some hail as the most powerful science-fiction series of all time as a two-part special.

The first hour-long part will air in its normal timeslot of March 13 at 10 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel, followed by a two-parter March 20 beginning at an earlier 9 p.m. to account for the two hours. For fans who don't want to wait between episodes, SciFi Channel plans to re-air the March 13 episode at 8 p.m. ET on March 20, allowing those who want to watch it straight through to do just that, a SciFi Channel spokeswoman tells SyFy Portal.

Rumors had abound that the finale could run as long as three hours after SciFi Channel reportedly gave the go-ahead for showrunner Ronald D. Moore and his crew to use as much airtime as they need to tell the story. That prompted some reports that other episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" would be extended, but only the fourth-season mid-season premiere in January was longer than the hour timeslot, and even then, it just ran over by a couple of minutes.

The split doesn't actually add a week to the series, but instead uses the ninth episode as a one-hour setup for the two-hour finale, thus creating a three-hour finale over two weeks (and three episode slots, which would actually bring the total number of hours in this half of the season to 11).

The finale of "Battlestar Galactica" has already been extensively ballyhooed, and some other sources at SciFi Channel expect it could draw some of the biggest numbers the network has seen for not only the signature series, but scripted programming as a whole. There is no word on whether or not SciFi Channel will do any special promotions for the finale, but they've already spent a good amount of money since late last year promoting the final episodes with decent audience returns for the first group of episodes that included a two-part attempted coup and most recently a bunch of backstory behind the Final Five Cylons.

"Battlestar Galactica" airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel.

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