Variety reports that the upcoming sixth season of ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder will be its last. The show’s finale is described as well-timed by both the showrunner, Pete Nowalk, and those who will recall that Shonda Rhimes famously left ABC for Netflix following lucrative deal in 2018. The Hollywood Reporter notes the show’s conclusion also coincides with the expiration with the main cast members’ six-season contracts. How To Get Away With Murder will premiere on Thursday September 26, 2019.
While Rhimes may have cut ties with ABC nearly a year ago, her imprint on the network’s programming, specifically their Thursday night programming, is still very clear. Starting with How To Get Away With Murder’s premiere in 2014, ABC established its signature TGIT block of scripted programming featuring three, highly rated Shonda-shows in a row. Another aspect of all three shows that solidified their popularity among audiences was their fan outreach via social media, mostly twitter. The casts of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder would tweet throughout the day and often live-tweet How To Get Away With Murder later this 2019-2020 television season, the TGIT timeslot will only be held by two Shonda-shows, Grey’s Anatomy and its sister series focusing on firefighters, Station 19.
How To Get Away With Murder has earned praise throughout its run from several film and minority groups. Deadline reports that over the last five seasons the show has garnered awards and nominations from a slate of diverse group, including winning a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Drama Series, and an American Film Institute Award for Television Award of the Year. Meanwhile, lead actress Viola Davis became the first woman of color to win the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series ever. Davis also earned herself an NAACP Image Award, a People’s Choice Award, and two SAG Awards.
Nowalk, a close collaborator with Rhimes who decided to stay on at ABC, had these words to say, “Deciding to end this series was a brutal decision, but ultimately the story tells you what to do – as it did here.” The show’s final season will focus on the main cast’s final semester of law school. Other fan favorites that have already announced their endings for the 2019-2020 television season include Modern Family on ABC, Blindspot and The Good Place on NBC, Criminal Minds and Madam Secretary on CBS, Empire on Fox, and Arrow and Supernatural on The CW.
Watch the season six trailer below.