Creator Mike Schur released a statement noting that this was the plan for a while.
Series creator Michael Schur announced on Saturday that season 4 of The Good Place would be the series' last. The show, which concluded its third season this year, stars Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, and Manny Jacinto as an oddball crew trying to navigate the literal ups-and-downs of the afterlife, aided by a demon (Ted Danson) and all-knowing not-a-robot (D'Arcy Carden).
Schur broke the news at a For Your Consideration event for the show, then headed on over to Twitter to release an official statement.
Image via NBC
“After The Good Place was picked up for season two, the writing staff and I began to map out, as best we could, the trajectory of the show. Given the ideas we wanted to explore, and the pace at which we wanted to present those ideas, I began to feel like four seasons—just over 50 episodes—was the right lifespan. At times over the past few years we’ve been tempted to go beyond four seasons, but mostly because making this show is a rare, creatively fulfilling joy, and at the end of the day, we don’t want to tread water just because the water is so warn and pleasant. As such, the upcoming fourth season will be our last.
-
I will be forever grateful to NBC and Universal TV for letting us make The Good Place, and for letting us end it on our own schedule. I will also be forever grateful to the creative team, both on-screen and off, for the work and decimation to a very weird idea. We ask the question very frequently, on this show, what do we owe to each other? The answer, for me, is: I owe all of you a whole lot.
-
We look forward to a great final season airing this fall."
On one hand, this is a massive bummer, seeing as how The Good Place has consistently been one of the best, most inventive shows on television, comedy or drama, since it debuted in 2016. On the other hand, it's also high-concept as hell, basically reinventing itself at the end of each season, and there's only so many times you can do that before you're spinning plates just to spin 'em. (See: LOST.) Schur, the creative team, and the cast have earned the audience's trust ten times over, so the decision to let them go out with a plan is obviously for the best.
But still, some sad shirt, my friends. Sad shirt, indeed. Check out Schur's statement below. The Good Place returns for its fourth and final season this Fall.
