Is Friday Night Lights Really Ending? Jason Katims Gives Us the Scoop

The show's big boss tells us it has not been canceled yet and they're just starting to break stories for season five

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose, right?

Um, maybe.

EW has reported that Friday Night Lights' fifth season will be its last. Still, we just asked the show's big boss, Jason Katims, and he told us: "It still hasn't been canceled yet."

Hmph. So what is really going on? Here's the word straight from Katims himself…

"There hasn't been any official decision about that yet," Katims said when asked about whether Friday Night Lights is really ending. "And it's weird that that would happen when literally we're breaking stories for a new season that we haven't even started to shoot yet. I just don't want to make it seem like the show is over. There was a period of time between the second season and third season where we were canceled and the show wound up coming back, so there's nothing official yet."

So you're...saying there's a chance?

According to EW, the cast has been informed that they can pursue other projects after FNL wraps production in Austin, Texas, on season five in June. The FNL producers have already freed up Taylor Kitsch to shoot a big movie (John Carter of Mars), so we won't see much, if any, of him in season five, and so it seems they're trying to be supportive of the cast in their pursuits to, you know, have a career outside of FNL. Pretty nice.

So the bottom line is that while there is no official word of a cancellation, everyone assumes season five will be FNL's last. Katims says: "We will do a minimum of five seasons." But you never know. As Katims pointed out, DirecTV stepped in and saved the show after season two (by paying to air the current season), which no one saw coming.

"The deal with DirecTV literally kept the show on the air," Katims said, "so for me it was just a wonderful experiment to be part of."

Katims, who spoke with reporters while promoting his new NBC series Parenthood (much more on that later, for we love it so), points out that there is still much more story for FNL fans to see.

"Truthfully, we just finished our fourth season run on DirecTV and our fourth season on NBC has not yet premiered until April 30, and then we have another year to go that we are just starting to break the stories on. To me, I feel it's early yet—of course, if it winds up being the final season of the show then I will feel very, very lucky and grateful that we were able to do as many episodes of a show that is so dear to my heart."

Are you hoping for more FNL, or do you feel that after season five it'll be time to let it go? Should we be selfless and let those crazy-good talents like Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler move on to other projects where they can finally win the Emmys and/or Oscars they deserve?

Probably. Dammit.