Some renewals are better late than never. TVGuide.com confirmed earlier today that Fox’s sitcom New Girl has been renewed for Season 7, which will be the final season. Due to the early notice that Season 7 will be the last for the show, the producers and writers will be able to create a season that will properly send off the characters viewers have come to know and love over the past six years.

New Girl is the longest running live action comedy series that is currently on Fox. The show stars Zooey Deschanel as Jess, a quirky woman that moves to Los Angeles and lives with three men, Nick (Jake Johnson), Winston (Lamorne Morris), and Schmidt (Max GreenField). The series also stars Hannah Simone as Cece, Jess’s best friend. The first six seasons follow the characters as they deal with everything from relationship drama to a change in careers.

The late renewal influenced executive producers Dave Finkel and Brett Baer to write the Season 6 finale in a way that would do the series justice in case it ended up being the series finale. Finkel told TVGuide.com, “We really wanted to make sure that we delivered an ending that could work in both directions.” He went on the explain,”If it was the series finale, that it answered a lot of questions, and then if it was just the season finale, there would be space to grow.”

Season 6 addressed many questions fans may have had in case the episode was the last for the series. While Cece learned that she is pregnant, Jess and Nick finally rekindled their on-again-off-again romance. When asked what is in store the characters in Season 7, Finkel told EW, “Obviously, Jess and Nick ended where they ended and we want to look at that and figure out how to make that play in some more interesting way. I think there’s still stuff that has to be done with all the characters.” He also revealed that he hopes to show Nick as he continues to grow in his professional life. “He’s the one character over the course of the series that I think required the most growth and where he is now is exciting, but I don’t think we’ve mined as much as we could possibly mine out of it. In a world where Schmidt and Cece and Winston and Jess have all sort of found the thing that they’ve been looking for, at least in their work lives, that Nick’s still on his road is interesting. I think there’s a lot of fun to be had there.”

Baer also revealed the storyline he would like to focus on for the upcoming season. “For me, because Winston’s story this year really surrounded the engagement and his relationship with Aly, I would like to get back to doing some more work stories for Winston. I’d like to see what he’s like getting promoted at work and becoming a detective — I think that would be fun.”

While fans are excited that New Girl will get the final season it deserves, Jake John revealed on Twitter that the season will only be a short 8 episodes, which is significantly less episodes than the usual 22-episode-season format for Fox.

#NewGirl has been picked up for 8 final episodes! Very excited to be able to finish what we started. Also Happy Mother’s Day, ladies.

— jake johnson (@MrJakeJohnson) May 14, 2017