The Shield creator and executive producer Shawn Ryan had announced in May that he was unsure if he would be doing another season of the show that stars Michael Chiklis as tough cop Vic Mackey. After weeks of wondering, fans can now rest easy. There will actually be two new seasons of the gritty FX show. Well, sort of.
Ryan has confessed, “The writers and I weren’t quite ready to step away from these characters just yet. We asked FX for an additional 13 episodes to conclude the show properly and, as always, the network graciously let us do what we thought was best for the show.”
As a result, the ten Shield episodes that are currently in production, which many expected to be part of the current season (season five), will now be delayed until 2007 and called season six. Season five guest Forest Whitaker (as Internal Affairs detective Jon Kavanaugh) will appear in some of the season six episodes.
Then, production will begin on the final 13 Shield episodes (season seven) in the summer of 2007 and will be released presumably in late 2007/early 2008. The two final seasons will bring the episode count of the FX original and award-winning series to a total of 88.
Said FX president John Landgraf, “It has been the privilege of everyone at FX to work with Shawn Ryan, Michael Chiklis and their colleagues on The Shield. It has always been our intent to have the show exit television as it entered, as one of the best drama series ever. We’re thrilled Shawn has come up with a great way to end the series and that it will require one final season for his vision to reach completion.”
So, will that be the end of Mackey’s rule-breaking exploits? Could there be TV-movies? Hard to say. The series is FX’s first original series and has proven to be very popular, attracting a high-viewership (especially considering it’s only available to cable and satellite subscribers) as well as multiple award nominations and wins. With that in mind, I can’t help wondering if we might see Shield stories, in some form, for a long time to come.
Side note: For an interesting story on how Michael Chiklis got the role of Vic Mackey, click here. 
Yher shield could go on for ever, there is mo concieviable reason why the the creator should end it! At least let it go to the 100th episodes so it can reach the satuts of the great show that it is, or have a play of and continue the show through an another show
i think the show will end because there will be no more stories to tell.
strike team is done
Just finished watching Season 6 ep 10
There will definatley be a season 7
Posted by: Anonymous | May 13, 2007 10:41 PM
What do you mean by “Just finished watching Season 6 ep 10” ?? I thought i just watched ep 8.
Does anyone not read? FX didnt cancel it, the creator requested to end it. He wants to end it with dignity. I say more power to him…I love the show, and I would hate to see it get monotonous. I will be very bored now that it wil be gone soon. I hope there is another show like it at that time to keep me interested.
This show should have been on a big network. FX always seemed to have doubts about doing another season and then they come up with seasons of 10 or so episodes and wanting to cancel it after seven short seasons. This would have never happened on a big network.
Just finished watching Season 6 ep 10
There will definatley be a season 7
I hope the shield will go on to make another series of it’s own, this time with some new faces and old. maybe new department or new area/city. but you cannot beat the masterpiece “the shield” it will forever be known as one of the greatest cop dramas ever shown on television. i love the shield nad watch every episode and i don’t want it to end, but a start always has a finish. but it can also be continued with a new storyline… “hopefully”
Please tell me when the next series starts.The best show on TV.Thanks
THIS IS VERY EASY: JUST BOICOT / DO NOT SPONSOR / WATCH ANY OTHER FX PRODUCTIONS OR SHOWS AND EVERYONE WRITE THEM AND LET’S GIVE ‘EM A PIECE OF OUR MINDS.
I HAVE GONE SO FAR AS NOT KILLING MY CABLE SUBSCRIPTION JUST TO WATCH THE SHIELD ON FX BUT ONCE IT’S GONE, BYE BYE CABLE…
I checked back in october i think or possibly a little later than that and i heard that the shield season 6 was comming out in march…which is this month, currently March 3rd, and now i see from your extremely helpful posts that it will be airing on april 3rd. i just wanted to make sure that is correct because this is my favorite show of all time and i have been looking forward to season six for a very very long time…and if the wait truly is only 1 month, i am relieved. so thankyou and if you could… Read more »
BEST COP SHOW SINCE NYPD AND HILL STREET BLUES!!!!! I HATE TO SEE IT GO. ANY FAN SHOULD PUSH FOR IT TO CONTINUE!!!!!
WHATS GOING ON NOW? FIRST FX DROPS THEIF AND NOW THE SHEILD,SOMEWHERE SOMEHOW FX IS NOT LISTENING TO THE PUBLIC CABLE PAYERS OR THE RATINGS BOARD TOWARDS 2 OF THE BEST SHOWS ON T V FOR MATURE ADULTS TO DATE,WHATS NEXT CHANGE THE RATEINGS AND LETS GO BACK INTO THE DARK AGES OF 25 YEARS AGO.
March 27th Season 5 on DVD. Arpil 3rd Season 6 begins.
Every time this show came on Channel 5 I switched off – I just didn’t like the look of it – then out of curiosity I decided to rent the first season – I watched the first episode thinking “it’s ok” then Vic shot Terry and I was HOOKED!! I had to buy all seasons on DVD and couldn’t wait to watch them – this show is the best show on TV (except Supernatural) – most other TV shows do get abit boring after a while and only the true fans stay with them but this show just keeps getting… Read more »
I have watched every episode and anticipated every new episode. My wife always knew Tues. night at 10 PM were to find me. I truly hate to see this show meet an early end. I hope FX knows what it is doing., the commercial value alone of the series has to be incredible!!!