It's the story we feared we'd never get to write: NBC, according to Variety, is about to confirm that Chuck will be returning for a third season after all.

The show had struggled with the ratings, despite a sizeable groundswell of enthusiasm and support for it, and with a vacuum of information from NBC as it headed towards the end of its second season, the fear was that Chuck was for the can.

However, apparently a deal is now in place for a 13 episode third season, with a reduced budget as part of the package. This is expected to be confirmed in the next day or two.

This is terrific news, should that formal word come through (which now seems very likely, to be fair). And given how the finale to season two could be described with some legitimacy as ‘game-changing', it'll now be fascinating to see which way Chuck goes next. As long as he takes the Nerd Herd with him, we're right behind the man.

Here's the Variety story.