FX Networks CEO John Landgraf confirmed Justified will end after its sixth season.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Western series stars Timothy Olyphant and the announcement was made at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.
“It was [showrunner] Graham Yost and Timothy Olyphant’s decision,” Landgraf said. “I would have liked to have had more Justified. It’s one of my favorite shows.”
Landgraf took the decision to wrap the series up reluctantly. “We talked about it a year ago. They felt that the arc of the show and what they had to say would be best served by six seasons instead of seven. Regretfully, I accepted their decision.”
FX has never allowed business to influence the creative or extended/ended a show based on financials.
“A lot of it was just figuring out how much story we had left,” showrunner Yost said. “Our biggest concern is running out of story and repeating ourselves. This was a long conversation. There were financial incentives to keep going, but it really felt, in terms of story, that six years felt about right.”
FX has many original series premiering this year that include Fargo and Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse’s The Strain. Returning series this year include American Horror Story, The Bridge, The Americans and the final season Sons of Anarchy
There will be a tribute for the late writer Elmore Leonard (author of source material Fire in the Hole) by the cast and crew at Santa Monica’s New Roads School on Jan. 21.
“Every episode, we’ve tried to do as a tribute to Elmore Leonard,” Yost said.