The Good Wife, which has consistently been CBS’ most critically acclaimed show over its seven seasons, will undergo a major change if the eye network wants an eighth year.
During the Television Critics Association Press Tour, Robert King told TVLine that he and his wife, Michelle King, will not be back as showrunners for a potential season eight. The two writers have always said that the envisioned Alicia Florrick’s story wrapping in seven seasons. They stuck to that today.
“The bottom line is CBS is trying to make deals for an eighth season, so we would be there in a supervisory role, but the storytelling we have will finish in the seventh year,” Robert King told TVLine. He said that they won’t kill Julianna Margulies’ character, but they plan on having a “satisfactory” end to the show in the season seven finale.
However, they wouldn’t (and can't) stop CBS from renewing it for an eighth season.
“The show could absolutely continue even if The Kings were not running it,” CBS boss Glenn Geller later said during CBS’ presentation, reports Entertainment Weekly. “We have a deep bench on the show. Some of the writers have been there from the beginning. We haven’t made any determination. It’s just January, so we haven’t determined if there will be another season or not.”
The Kings aren’t completely done with CBS though. They are currently working on the sci-fi/political comedy BrainDead with Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
In recent years, The Good Wife has been the only drama from the broadcast networks up for major awards. Margulies won a Golden Globe in 2010 and has won two Emmys. Archie Panjabi, Martha Plimpton and Carrie Preston have won Emmys for their roles on the show.