A source close to the "Duck Dynasty" situation confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that when A&E begins airing new episodes of the show Jan. 15, indefinitely suspended cast member Phil Robertson will appear as well.

Phil Robertson

EW reported that A&E is hopeful that the recent furor over Robertson's statements about homosexuality will have subsided by then and things can get ironed out.

“There’s no negotiation to have; we’re doing the show,” an insider close to the situation told EW. “We’ll figure out a solution. It’s just not going to happen overnight. Everybody will take a break for the holidays and regroup afterward. That’s probably the smartest thing for everyone to do. Time heals a lot of wounds.”

TheBlaze has reported that the "Duck Dynasty" cast can't imagine going on without the family patriarch as part of the program.

More from EW:

"Duck Dynasty" is in the middle of its fourth season and currently averaging an incredible 14.6 million viewers when including seven days of DVR playback. Nine of its remaining 10 episodes have already been shot. [...] The shot episodes in the can gives A&E a fair amount of time to potentially resolve the crisis, however.

The network is airing a "Duck Dynasty" repeat marathon Sunday, EW reported.

--

[related]