Will How to Get Away with Murder Return for Season 6? The Showrunner Sounds Off

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 5 finale of How to Get Away with Murder. Read at your own risk!]

These days, sudden cliffhanger cancelations have become a bit of a rarity, with networks choosing to hand out final season orders instead of cutting them off at the knees. It's not always a surefire thing, but in the case of How to Get Away with Murder, we're pretty sure ABC wouldn't be so cruel as to leave us dangling off that Season 5 cliffhanger.

When all was said and done, we were left wondering whether Laurel (Karla Souza) and baby Christopher were kidnapped by her nefarious brother or whether she'd orchestrated the whole thing in order to disappear. On top of that, Annalise's (Viola Davis) boss, Emmett Crawford (Timothy Hutton), who'd just been framed for murder, was left gasping for breath on the floor of his office after an apparent poisoning. If that wouldn't make the worst accidental series finale ever, we don't know what would. Luckily, showrunner Pete Nowalk understands and agrees.

How to Get Away With Murder Season 5 Finale: "They're All F---ed"

"That's a huge mystery as we go into another season," Nowalk told TV Guide of Laurel and Christopher's uncertain fates, "which fingers crossed we'll get. Obviously, we wrote it with the plan that we would get another season. That would be a terrible ending."

ABC hasn't yet given word about whether How to Get Away with Murder will return for Season 6, but that's not necessarily anything to be alarmed about at this point. In previous years, renewals for the show have come in February, March and even May, so there's not a whole lot of method to the madness. We could be waiting a while for news about whether the show will return, but regardless, Nowalk has ideas for another season.

"I have plans, we're planning as if -- you know these things can take time with the network and stuff, but I definitely am hopeful," Nowalk said.

Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder

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As for what those plans are, Nowalk is obviously keeping all spoilers and secrets under wraps, but it does sound like the FBI and their "Operation Bonfire" will play a big factor later on down the road.

As you may well remember, the murder that kicked off all of this madness in Season 1 was Sam Keating's (Tom Verica) on the night of the Middleton University Bonfire. That fact coupled with Annalise taking the center position on the mystery board in the FBI's office seems to indicate that they might know even more about how all of these murders are connected than we ever thought. With the right evidence, they could take our murder club down for all their past misdeeds.

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If that sounds like an "endgame" kind of storyline to you, you may be on the right track.

"I think the fact that the FBI obviously has been keeping track of them we now know means that this is not going to end easily," Nowalk said. "All of these seasons where they're like, 'OK, maybe now it's over,' it just means that someone's been making a case against them. That is the next challenge of the season. Can these people actually beat the FBI? Why hasn't the FBI charged them with anything yet? The FBI's probably just as corrupt as they are in our show. ... So yes, we're growing bigger, the stakes are higher. When that means the show ends, I don't know. I do think I'm promising that there has to be some repercussions for these people."

Taking on the FBI sounds like a meaty story that could last multiple seasons if necessary, so we can hold out hope that not only will Season 6 happen, it may not be the last. That being said, Nowalk does have firm plans about how the show will end... when the time comes.

"I'm so excited to tell you I do!" Nowalk said when we asked whether he already knew how the show would end. "I wouldn't have been able to tell you that last week, but I do, and I love the idea. I haven't told anyone, I'm just sitting on it, and I would obviously like to write this show forever, but I'm also really excited that I have an ending that I think is really great!"

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Other Links From TVGuide.com How to Get Away with MurderViola DavisPeter NowalkKarla Souza