(Colleen Hayes / HBO)

Veep has a return date! Syfy Wire reports the HBO series will begin production on its seventh and final season this summer.

As reported earlier, the next season of the political comedy will be the show’s last. Production was put on hold so star Julia Louis-Dreyfus could receive treatment and recover from breast cancer. The cast also includes Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Matt Walsh, Timothy Simons, Reid Scott, and Sufe Bradshaw.

During an appearance on the podcast The Fandom Files, Veep showrunner David Mandel revealed the HBO series will begin production on season seven in August:

I’ve definitely had to rethink the season. I’ve definitely thrown stuff in the garbage and rejiggered things, glued things together. You want to try and get close but not too close. But you want to recognize it. But what are we saying on the show? I know that sounds like a silly thing to say, but like what is politics about right now? And that feels very strange right now. It’s been hard. I will not lie. I’m obviously I’m thrilled that we’re going to do this season, but I am not unhappy that this is going to be the final season.

When Armando Iannucci created it, part of the idea was giving a peek behind the curtain of what politics are really like, saying this is what politicians are really like in private. None of that seems true anymore. There’s no sense of that. We know exactly what [Trump’s] like. Nothing’s private. And so much of the humor was always like, Selina Meyers is the worst person that should ever be president and this is the stupidest staff you’ve ever seen. No longer true either.

I guess if you were making Veep today from scratch as opposed to Season 7, I don’t quite know what you would be saying. So that’s sort of some of the problem we’re dealing with in Season 7 and thinking about Veep, like these people were kind of terrible, but you learn to love them and you root for them.”

What do you think? Are you a fan of Veep? Are you excited for the final season?