Back on May 10th, Edward James Olmos stunned fans by remarking that the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica would be the series’ last. Co-star Katee Sackoff reluctantly corroborated that the sci-fi journey was coming to a close.

Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick quickly responded and said, “For those of you who have been paying attention over the years, this is not the first time Eddie has made an announcement about the possibility of the show’s end. I promise you that when Ron [Moore, fellow executive producer] and I make a decision about Galactica’s future, we’ll let you know.”

Well, that didn’t take long. In a joint statement issued yesterday, Eick and Moore said, “This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and finally, an end. Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end and we’ve decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there — we’re going out with a bang.”

The final season of Galactica will kick off in November with a two-hour episode entitled “Razor.” It will focus on Galactica’s sister ship Pegasus. The rest of the Galactica episodes will begin to air in early 2008.

Sci Fi says that they “respect the producers’ decision to end the series.” Sci Fi’s executive vice-president of original programming Mark Stern said, “We are proud to have been the home of this groundbreaking show. We have always known that Ron and David had a plan for Galactica and trust that fans can look forward to a truly amazing final season.”

So, what changed in less than three weeks? Did Olmos and Sackoff just speak out of turn or had the final decision not yet been made? Is the end really the producers’ idea or was Galactica cut by Sci Fi? Eick and Moore will be holding a press conference later today so we’ll hopefully know more soon. Stay tuned!