TNT has officially cancelled Rizzoli & Isles, marking its upcoming seventh season as the cop drama’s final run. The announcement was made by TNT boss Kevin Reilly at Thursday’s Television Critics Association press tour.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, TNT ordered a shortened seventh season for Rizzoli & Isles. The final season will run with a total of thirteen episodes, instead of eighteen which was ordered for its sixth year.
The publication also reported that the cancellation comes after contracts were expected to be renegotiated by the supporting cast members for the upcoming seventh season. Lead co-stars, Harmon and Alexander, meanwhile, renegotiated their deals as a team last year.
Reilly released a statement via Entertainment Weekly following the sad announcement, he said: “That will be the final season. I think both ladies have had a really satisfying experience”. Reilly continued that he “felt it was time”; while sharing that everyone agreed to ‘go out and finish great ones and call it a day’.
TNT did not cite the show’s ratings for the cancellation. Rizzoli & Isles ranks as one of the top-performing cable series every year in total viewership. In lieu, the decision to cancel the series according to THR is that TNT is “is plotting a new and edgier direction with series including Animal Kingdom, Good Behavior and the newly ordered Tales From the Crypt horror block”.
Per E! Online, TNT has scheduled Rizzoli & Isles season six to resume on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 9PM. Its seventh and final run, meanwhile, will air this summer.
Rizzoli & Isles debuted in 2010 on TNT. Based on a series of novels penned by Tess Gerritsen, the show follows the story and friendship of a medical examiner and a police detective as they solve one crime after another.
