According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming sixth season of HBO’s Silicon Valley will be its last. The last season will contain seven episodes and is set to air some time later this year. Along with Game of Thrones and Veep, Silicon Valley will also make it as one of HBO’s long-running series on HBO that will end this year.
The comedy series first aired in 2014 by Mike Judge and Alec Berg, who executive produced the show. “Silicon Valley has been a career and life highlight for us. We’ll miss it desperately, but we’ve always let Pied Piper’s journey guide the way, and Season Six seems to be the fitting conclusion,” Judge and Berg stated. “We are forever indebted to our incredible cast, crew and partners at HBO. At a certain point, there’s only so much we can do to make the world a better place.”
The series shows the determined Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) as he attempts to make his way in the tech industry with his new and innovative data-compression startup called Pied Piper. While the show did not win any big awards, it did propel the careers of the castmembers, such as Kumail Nanjiani who is now nominated for an Oscar.
One member will not be returning for season 6, however. T.J. Miller who plays Erlich Bachman on the show left abruptly right before the fifth season and seems to be gone for good. In his exit interview, Miller explained why he turned down the contract. Miller stated that despite everyone thinking him crazy for leaving successful show, there were multiple reasons why he did it. “‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to leave at the height of the success of the show?’” Miller told The Hollywood Reporter. “Knowing that Kumail [Nanjiani] is brilliant, Zach Woods is the greatest improviser alive, Thomas Middleditch is one of the funniest people of all, Martin Starr is the deadpan comedian of our generation, what if I just stepped aside and let them continue the show and see what it becomes?” Miller explained that he had wanted more time for other things, such as to spend time with his wife. Miller also claimed that he left because he was a comedian, not an actor. “It was a joke. Leaving was a joke that I thought would be a good joke because the show would grow and change,” Miller explained. “It seemed like a funny trick to play on everyone. It’s just like, what if Kramer [Michael Richards] left in the middle of Seinfeld‘s height?“
Judge and Berg will continue working with HBO, Judge on an animated series entitled Tales From the Tour Bus and Berg on the comedy Barry starring Bill Hader. Regarding the decision to end on the sixth season, Judge stated that “Six seasons seem to be the standard for something like this, which seems fine to me.” A premiere date has yet to be set.