The Good Wife season 7 to be its last, after Super Bowl 50 ad announcement

"We felt very fortunate and flattered that we were being allowed to end the show together with the writers and producers in the way we would hope it would end," said creator Michelle King.

The Good Wife will end with season 7 (Channel 4)

The Good Wife will end after its current, seventh season.

CBS took an unusual step in announcing the decision, airing the news as part of a Super Bowl 50 ad for the show; which was then followed up by official confirmation and statements from cast and crew. This is certainly the first time in television history something of this nature has happened, though it follows on from lengthy rumours the show was nearing its end.

The decision, in fact, was only made a week previously. Creators Robert and Michelle King had already confirmed their own departure as executive producers, though it was uncertain whether the show would also bow out with them. "We didn’t know [whether] it would be a Grey’s Anatomy thing, like how they continued with a whole new slew of doctors," Robert King stated at a press conference (via Entertainment Weekly). Michelle King added, "We felt very fortunate and flattered that we were being allowed to end the show together with the writers and producers in the way we would hope it would end."

"We thought about the full story we wanted to tell and how long we wanted to tell it, having come from movies," Robert King said of their plans. "We quickly thought that the show could only support seven years, so we started to build toward that. What you will see in last nine is the third act."

Questions remain as to how the pair plan to wrap up the show's continuing threads, specifically when it comes to the matter of whether Peter and Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth) will finally get the divorce that's been hovering so long over the heads. "I admire when an ending feels inevitable and surprising," Michelle King stated. Though she stressed, "As for a divorce, we should stay mum."

The show's end may not be the last of these characters we see, however. Though the pair admitted no concrete plans had been made, Robert King added: "what would be appealing is if we could find a way to spinoff an ensemble. We wished we had more time to explore other lives [of their supporting characters]."

The final episode of The Good Wife will air in the US on May 8.