HOLLYWOOD - When the third season of "Friday Night Lights" wrapped in late 2008, star Kyle Chandler was under the belief that he would be hanging up his coaching cleats for good.

The series, which touches on political, social and familial issues in a football-obsessed but beleaguered town, has a small but dedicated audience. Last year, it also became somewhat of a network experiment.

Now a partnership between DirecTV and NBC, "Friday Night Lights" had been trimmed last season from a full 22-episode run to one that capped at 13 episodes. Chandler was convinced that number would become zero. "It was fatigue," Chandler says, explaining the reason for the negativity. "The first year we were up against 'American Idol.' The second year was the writers' strike. The third year we get cut down to 13 episodes. I just assumed that while we had a solid base, the numbers wouldn't go out the roof. ... I just didn't expect that we would overcome a network's desire for something fresh."

With "Friday Night Lights" airing its fourth season Wednesday nights on DirecTV's 101 Network, Chandler is experiencing something he's never had on the show before: stability. NBC and DirecTV renewed their partnership for a two-season run of 13 episodes apiece.

Yet a sense of uncertainty surrounds practically everything else in the world of "Friday Night Lights." Set in the fictional Texas town of Dillon, Season 4 serves as a major restructuring.

A plot line involving a town redistricting has provided an opportunity to introduce a host of new characters, as well as disrupt the heart of the show. Chandler's Eric Taylor, fired as the coach of the Dillon Panthers, is now heading the East Dillon Tigers, a team representing a school made up of kids from the wrong side of town. His wife, Connie Britton's Tami, remains principal of Dillon High and its glorious, well-funded football program.

Chandler says he called the writers and thanked them after reading Season 3's finale. "If it were to come back, there was a whole new show," he says. "If the show didn't come back, they ended it really nicely."

Executive producer Peter Berg, who directed Season 4's first episode, as well as the 2004 film that was inspired by Buzz Bissinger book, plans to have a bigger input the next two seasons.

"On a macro level, what's great about the new direction of the show is we've completely pulled the rug out from underneath this family," Berg said.

"They're displaced and they're on entirely unfamiliar turf. They're going to have to rebuild and reinvent themselves. We've sort of destroyed everything that was familiar to this family. That's very true to the culture.

"Three or four years is considered a long run as a head coach. It's not uncommon for these coaches to have to pick up and relocate their families."