The Next Season of 'Justified' Could Be Its Last

While Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead have sucked up most of the basic-cable drama buzz the past few years, Justified has flown pretty under the radar. Which is unfortunate, since the series has only spent the past four years delivering ridiculously awesome levels of TV entertainment.

Justified kicked off its fifth season this week, and at a premiere party for the season, FX President of Original Programming Nick Gad told Variety that Justified could wrap things up after next season.

"We like having shows that rate really well, and there's an instinct that you want it to go on forever. But it doesn't," Grad said. "Another metric that's important to us [beyond ratings] is, 'What shows are going to be talked about in the next 20 years?' If you’re making a great, 80-hour movie, it has to have a beginning, middle and end. Going out at the right time is going to make your show last forever — we want to make shows that stand the test of time."

It's weird — while I've applauded shows like Lost and Breaking Bad for setting end dates, I never really thought of Justified in that way. I guess at some point, Timothy Olyphant's Raylan Givens will have to hang up his holster. That said, I am happy to see FX thinking about what's best for Justified in terms of story, not just ratings, the kind of thinking that a series like The Walking Dead could really benefit from.