TNT announced its decision to cancel the television drama "Leverage" days before the series' fifth season finale.

Dean Devlin, executive producer and director of the show, posted a letter to fans on the show's official website on Dec. 22 stating the news. He noted that the network decided on Saturday that Leverage's Christmas Day episode, "The Long Goodbye Job," will be the series finale as TNT has decided not to renew the show for a sixth season.

"I want to take the opportunity to thank TNT for five amazing seasons and 77 episodes of a show that has been so good to me.," he said. "I'm incredibly proud of the show and what we've accomplished. I'm so happy we were able to film the series finale we had always envisioned and I'm happy we're able to present it on Christmas as our gift to you. It's a bittersweet goodbye."

Earlier this month, Devlin posted another letter to fans stated that the show will air its final episode on Christmas Day, though it was not confirmed at the time by the network. He said at the time it was still uncertain whether there will be a season six of the show and because of "this uncertainty," he and the show's creator, John Rogers, "decided to end this season with the episode we had planned to make to end the series, way back when we shot the pilot.

"So, the episode that will air on Christmas is, in fact, the series finale we had always envisioned," he said.

Devlin encouraged fans not to miss the series finale because it "is the most powerful episode we've ever done. He also made it clear to readers that the show's cast and crew would return for a sixth season if given the opportunity, but in case that does not happen, "after 77 episodes, we owed it to you, our fans, to end the show properly."

"Leverage" has been independently produced by Devlin's Electric Entertainment.

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