BET Bringing Back The Game

The San Diego Sabres are returning to the field.

BET will have new episodes of The Game in the fall, the network announced Wednesday.

The CW canceled the series, a spin-off of the long-running comedy Girlfriends, last May after three seasons. However, reruns of The Game have garnered record ratings on BET since debuting on the cable channel in February 2009.

BET in negotiations to bring back The Game

"I'm extremely happy to announce the absolute worst-kept secret in the world," said Loretha Jones, BET's president of original programming.

Original cast members Tia Mowry, Pooch Hall, Hosea Chanchez, Wendy Raquel Robinson and frequent guest star Rick Fox along with executive producer Salim Akil attended the BET announcement. Series regulars Brittany Daniel and Coby Bell were notably absent, but it's unclear if that is indicative of their future with the show.

Bell is set to join the cast of USA's Burn Notice when the series returns for its fourth season in June, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Is The Game on without its stars? Actors' contracts are up

The Hollywood Reporter said earlier this month that most of the cast is expected to come back, with Akil taking over showrunner duties from wife Mara Brock Akil. She will continue to serve as an executive producer on the series as well as a Cougar Townconsulting producer.

The Game is one of several series brought back from cancellation after finding success on other platforms. Family Guy famously returned to Fox in 2005 after finding new life on DVD and in syndication, and new episodes of Futurama will debut on Comedy Central later this year.