It’s been a long time since the intrepid law school students first entered Annalise Keating’s class in the premiere of How To Get Away With Murder—five years, in fact. And now, as law school eventually ends, so does the series. Deadline announces that the series’ upcoming sixth season will be its last, focusing on these characters’ final semester in law school, with 15 episodes to go.
Series creator Peter Nowalk said in a statement, “Deciding to end this series was a brutal decision, but ultimately the story tells you what to do—as it did here…For me, Annalise Keating’s journey has always had a clear ending… I have 15 episodes left to finish her story, and the chance to give all the characters their own killer endings.” As fans of the show know, “killer” has two meanings here. (Remember Sam? Rebecca? Wes?)
HTGAWM’s departure will mean the end of Shonda Rhimes’ TGIT dynasty, a three-hour block on ABC Thursday nights that kicked off with Grey’s Anatomy, currently followed by the lesser Station 19, with HTGAWM taking up the prime-time home stretch. With Shondaland’s recent move to Netflix, this development is not too much of a surprise.
Still, the series left its mark, especially with Viola Davis as the commanding lead. She became the first Black woman to win an Emmy Award for Lead Actress In A Drama Series, and Deadline reports she also won two SAG Awards, a People’s Choice Award and an NAACP Image Award for the role. The show’s now-final season kicks off on September 26.