8 Shows We Suspect Are (Very Quietly) Entering Their Final Seasons

This Is Us, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and black-ish are among the long-running series officially entering their final seasons this fall (or, in the case of B99, this summer). Unofficially, however, we suspect the departing trio will have a fair amount of company at the finish line of the 2021-22 TV season.

The fact is, the broadcast networks rarely make preemptive end-date announcements, with execs preferring to err on the side of caution in the event that said show experiences an unexpected creative or ratings resurgence (see: 7th Heaven's 2006 un-cancellation).

Typically, final-season decisions are made while a show is still in production on what will be end up being its farewell season — and sometimes the formal press release goes out with little notice (see: NCIS: New Orleans' 11th hour plug-pulling last spring, or Hawaii Five-0's the year before).

Which brings us to the list below. We consulted our somewhat reliable TVLine crystal ball and it's telling us that the end is very, very nigh for the following eight shows.

If the exits of series regulars Tom Cavanagh and Carlos Valdes didn't already signal the beginning of the end for The CW's flagship DC drama, this should do the trick: Grant Gustin's contract expires at the end of the upcoming eighth season.

There have been unofficial rumblings that the procedural's upcoming 13th season will be its last, although showrunner R. Scott Gemmill recently told TVLine that no decision has been made. If it does turn out to be the end, "I hope to get a heads-up... just so that we can go out with an episode or a bunch of episodes that really tie up things," Gemmill shared. "But we'll just have to wait and see. No one ever knows. If there is someone that knows, they're not telling me!"

If NCIS: Los Angeles cheats death and gets a 14th season, we suspect it'll be curtains for the mothership (because there's no way CBS is going to euthanize both shows, especially on the heels of NCIS: New Orleans' cancellation). As it is, OG NCIS will face two of its biggest-ever tests in Season 19: the loss of its longtime Tuesday time slot and the relative disappearance of leading man Mark Harmon.

The NBC drama, which, let's be real, has been living on borrowed time for years now, ended Season 8 with its least-watched episode in history. And we don't see that downward trend reversing itself as it heads into Season 9 without leading lady Megan Boone and series creator Jon Bokenkamp.

The ABC drama just barely got renewed for a fourth season. Continued ratings erosion in its new-ish Wednesday-at-10 pm time slot will likely lead series creator DJ Nash (at the urging of ABC) to start building to a series finale.

With Freddie Highmore's soon-to-be-hitched Dr. Shaun Murphy heading into his fifth and possibly final year of residency, we predict that series creator David Shore will view Season 5 as an opportune time to check out.

We're going to go out on a short limb and posit that Adam (played by 22-year-old Sean Giambrone) will finally graduate high school in the ABC comedy's upcoming ninth season. And we can think of no better stopping point for the '80s-set sitcom than Beverly's final/favorite schmoopie-doodle leaving the nest.

We'll probably eat crow on this one, but our gut is telling us that 18 years will be enough for leading lady Ellen Pompeo.