The time has come to say goodbye to Curb Your Enthusiasm.
After eight seasons, a six-year hiatus and three-season revival — with one more season still to come — Larry David is officially ending his run as TV’s Larry David, a version of himself that he will have played for nearly a span of 25 years on the hit Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning HBO comedy.
HBO and the star-creator on Thursday announced that Curb Your Enthusiasm will end with its previously announced 12th season, which will premiere Feb. 4. The final season will consist of 10 episodes, releasing weekly on Sundays at 10 p.m.
“As Curb comes to an end, I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be — the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character,” David said in a statement confirming the final season. “And so ‘Larry David,’ I bid you farewell. Your misanthropy will not be missed. And for those of you who would like to get in touch with me, you can reach me at Doctors Without Borders.”
The Hollywood Reporter reported in March that season 12 would mark the end for HBO’s longest-running comedy, as David’s current pact with the premium cable network was expiring this year. The season wrapped filming that month, and the upcoming series finale was described by sources at the time as having the feel of a homecoming.
“It’s hard to say farewell to such a ground-breaking, brilliantly funny and iconic series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has left its mark across television and the comedy genre,” Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO & Max Content, said in a statement Thursday. “Working alongside Larry David and [executive producer] Jeff Schaffer as well as all of the comedic masterminds that comprise our producers, cast and crew has been a joy that I will always treasure.”
Courtesy of MAX
Curb became HBO’s longest-running series with season 11. The comedy, which sees David playing a fictionalized and exaggerated version of himself, launched in 2000 and ran for eight seasons. After taking a six-year break, Curb returned in 2017. HBO has maintained an open-door policy with David and defers to the creator and star on whether or not he wants to return, which he has for four revival seasons.
As his longtime collaborator Schaffer previously explained, each season is always the last — until David decides creatively that he has more ideas.
Schaffer previously revealed to THR that they filmed an alternate ending to season 11 with a Larry death scene, but — much to the delight of fans everywhere — they ultimately discarded it and made way for a 12th season and one more year of Larry’s shenanigans.
“[Larry] said, ‘I’m not ready to die,’” Schaffer said of David, while talking about the pressure to outdo the previous season with the upcoming season 12, which will now be the final run.
Since its return, David and Schaffer have reunited the ensemble cast — along with a roster of high-wattage guest stars — that includes Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, Richard Lewis and Ted Danson. Curb is famously shot without a script. To keep the narrative spontaneous, castmembers are given scene outlines and they improvise lines as they go.
Returning stars Vince Vaughn and Tracey Ullman join the cast for season 12, which bears the traditional following logline: “Starring Larry David as an over-the-top version of himself, Curb offers a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the writer/producer/comedian’s fictionalized life. The comedy series continues to prove how seemingly trivial details of one’s day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events.”
The critically beloved series has earned a staggering 51 Emmy nominations and two wins; five Golden Globe nominations and one win, as well as multiple nominations and wins across the various guilds, including SAG, DGA and WGA.
Curb is created by David; executive producers are David, Garlin and Schaffer; co-executive producers are Laura Streicher and Jennifer Corey.
At a press event in November attended by THR, Bloys was asked about Curb‘s future. “We generally leave that up to Larry, and I think he’s thinking about what he wants to do,” he said. “He knows it’s kind of been an open invitation. So I think he’s going to decide whether he wants to continue doing more or make this the final season. So I guess before it airs, he’ll decide what he wants to do.”
The end of Curb comes after HBO in 2023 said farewell to awards darlings Succession and Barry and canceled Winning Time, Perry Mason and The Idol. The cabler’s scripted roster still boasts hits including the Game of Thrones franchise, Euphoria and breakouts The Last of Us and The Gilded Age as well as comedies like Somebody Somewhere, The Righteous Gemstones and The White Lotus.
