As you might know, the seventh and final season of The Shield finally kicks off on September 2, 2008 on FX. Loyal viewers will have had to wait 15 months for the new episodes to begin and most are wondering how the tale of the morally unorthodox officer Vic Mackey will come to an end. At the Television Critics Association press tour, the series’ creator and stars slipped us a few clues.
Series creator Shawn Ryan says he didn’t take the job of writing the finale lightly and wanted to make sure it fit with the tone of the preceding 87 episodes. “I was very concerned about ending it properly. To me, it feels like a graduation where you did well in school. He added, “It will feel completely appropriate. We hope that you’ll be knocked over by it.”
CCH Pounder, who plays Captain Claudette Wyms, thinks Ryan nailed it, saying, “I think it’s the greatest finale ever. It blew my socks off…This finale is what Vic Mackey deserves.”
David Marciano, who plays Detective Steve Billings on the show, was a bit more cautious, adding, “I can’t concur with my costar. We do invest all this time and energy and you want it to culminate into something that you’ve gotten something out of it. With The Sopranos, there were mixed reviews. There will be no mixed reviews — you will get your money’s worth!”
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On whether his character will get his “just desserts,” star Michael Chiklis leaves it up to the audience, noting, “That’s in the eye of the beholder.” He went on to say, “This is tricky because I don’t want to blow anything for people. I will concur with David that I think [Ryan] did a tremendous job in writing this finale — The Shield, as a whole. It’s the longest movie ever made. I look at it as one long movie with a beginning, middle and an end…The writers have been able to do something that I marvel at. When you watch [the episodes], they’re so surprising and stunning, but then you look back at [the series as a whole], and it makes perfect sense. What thrills me about the finale is that you will not see this coming. You will not know what we do, but you will go, ‘Holy cow, that makes sense.'”
Is your curiosity peaked? Will Mackey be sent to jail for his crimes? Will he survive the series? If he does, could there be a follow-up movie? Stay tuned! 
