Throughout its opening set of episodes, Undercovers has sent Stephen and Stephanie Bloom around the world in order to complete missions and save innocent lives.

But the NBC drama has now tasked the fictional couple with its most difficult mission yet: saving itself.

With just over five million viewers tuning in, the series has been a ratings disappointment for the network. Instead of giving it a full-season order, as NBC did for other new shows such as The Event and Outsourced, only four additional scripts for Undercovers have been ordered.

Therefore, with an eye on an extended run, producers say the spy drama will shift away from weekly missions and broaden storylines to include the mythology of why the Blooms were brought back to the CIA.

"They're kind of upset that they were sent into this dangerous field without knowing the exact reason why they were there," co-creator and executive producer Josh Reims told TV Guide. "So that lights a fire underneath them to find out what those real reasons are."

Adds star Boris Kodjoe: "Every episode we find out new elements and new aspects about this master plan that was in place even before they came back to the CIA."

Look for a character portrayed by Alan Dale to play a key role in this master plan.

"Obviously, we would have liked for [the network] to say, 'Go ahead and shoot your back nine episodes,' but I understand our ratings aren't exactly going through the roof," Reims says. "I'm hoping that when they see the episodes that are airing in the next few weeks, plus the scripts they are going to get, they'll realize, 'Oh, wow there's a lot going on in this show and we don't want to give up on it yet.'"

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.