With season six of the award-winning comedy show having come to a close in spectacular fashion, all eyes are on the next developments at the Pawnee Department of Parks And Recreation. A renewal for a seventh season was confirmed in January, but co-creator and executive producer Michael Schur has suggested – in an interview with Entertainment Weekly – that we should prepare ourselves for the fact that this may well be the swan song for Leslie Knope and her colleagues.
“It’s fairly likely that next year will be the last. The natural rhythm of the show, and the big creative jump we take at the end of this season [season six], certainly suggests that we’re moving in that direction.
“Chunks of it are mapped out. We have signposts and stuff, but other parts are wide open and very much up in the air. I’m sure that some of the chunks that we felt are mapped out are going to change. We just have a general idea of what is going on in the world, and we have some general idea for what happens to those people over the course of this future season. But, until we really get back in the room, I’d really prefer not to try to commit to anything too soon. It just sort of like shuts up creativity… I have an idea for the final image – the final scene and the final image of the show, and I have no idea whether that’ll be the final image or not.”
So, there we have it – ‘final’ things have begun to coalesce in the mind of the co-creator, which means the show has certainly rounded the bend and is heading into the home stretch. While we cannot predict what this closing season will bring, one thing is for sure – it will be inspired comedy. These creators are the people that brought us ten seasons of The Office, having earned their stripes on Saturday Night Live. Michael Schur is now also a co-creator, writer and producer over Brooklyn Nine-Nine, along with a number of other Parks And Recreation writers and producers. As for the cast – well, they’re each in higher demand than ever before.
In many respects, it’s best that we have the opportunity to prepare ourselves for the end. It allows us to fully embrace the inevitable and just sit back, relax and enjoy the final antics of the Parks And Recreation team. They’ve put in six years of hard graft so far – seven by the time it’s over. Let’s all take a deep breath, grab a beverage, and ready ourselves for what is sure to be an epic send-off.
