TNT, Ph: Doug Hyun

Executive producer Jan Nash says she, the cast, and crew found out Rizzoli & Isles would be cancelled after its seventh season, when TNT‘s Kevin Reilly announced it during the TCA winter press tour. That said, the creative team was braced for the cancellation.

Nash tells TV Guide when the network only ordered 13 episodes of the seventh season, they started to catch on. This gave the writers time to plan for a Rizzoli & Isles seventh season finale that could serve as a TV series finale.

“We certainly had an inkling when they ordered 13 [episodes] rather than the usual 16 or 18,” Nash tells TVGuide.com. “We figured that might be the way this would play out. We designed Season 7 so that it could act as a series finale or just B story lines that we pull back on at the end to have them continue on. But I think with where we left off and what we already had planned work in our favor [going into the final season].”

The current season six arc will wrap up in the second episode of season seven. After that, Nash and crew will set their sights on the Rizzoli & Isles TV series finale. Here’s more from TV Guide:

We do have an idea of what we’re aimed at,” she says of the series finale. “The best idea wins, so if somebody has a better idea, then that’s what we’ll do. We have our 100th episode in the middle of the season, so we want to do a big, flashy 100th episode. There are a lot of opportunities to do fun things this year.”

“Fun” is the operative word for Season 7, as the cast and crew hope to end the show on a high note for their loyal fans. “I haven’t been here as long as some other people,” Nash, who joined in Season 5, says. “This is a very close-knit group. I think there’s a lot of gratitude for having been on such a long-running, successful show. I think we really just want to go out having a wonderful experience doing the work we love so much but also trying to make something the large and loyal audience of this show will enjoy. That has been our mantra. It’s hard to say goodbye. I’ve been on shows that have had long runs and it’s hard to come to [the] end of something, but it is certainly much more satisfying to be able to do it in a way where you can plan and feel like you got to service the characters properly.”

Are you a fan of TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles TV show? Do you think that seven seasons is sufficient, or should TNT have renewed it for an eighth season. Sound off, in the comments.