So… you might have noticed that The Bear is over after five seasons on FX/Hulu. Why? The folks behind the scenes have been oddly quiet about the decision. The more time to watch how The Bear ends and reflect on the journey Carmy, Sydney, Marcus, Tina, Ritchie and everyone else started at the Original Beef of Chicagoland.

TV fanatics might notice that the final season of The Bear does the same thing as the final season of How I Met Your Mother in that it takes place in a single day. Don’t be spooked, however, because the comparisons end there. The Bear does not pull any HIMYM bait-and-switch nonsense in its cerebral last moments. As the staff prepares for service in a thunderstorm that could potentially be their last for a myriad of reason, it’s kind of like The Bear is putting on the best talent show this town has ever seen. Would you believe that they kind of crush it? It’s an incredibly satisfying thing to behold.

Back in December, before we knew that Season 5 would be the final season, Jeremy Allen White told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast that the original plan was to end the show even earlier. “Chris [Storer] called me on Christmas Eve last year and was like, ‘We’re gonna do some more.’ And, I don’t know, that could happen again around this holiday time. There’s no plans for it to be the last. There’s no plans right now for us to do more. I think it’s just all dependent on what Chris wants to do. But if it was up to me? I just feel so lucky to read Chris’ words, and also to work with these actors who’ve become some of my best friends, so I’d do it for a very long time.”

Alas, Deadline confirmed that the show would end with Season 5 in March, 2026. Unfortunately, the folks involved have not said that much about the decision since. Not even Storer, the showrunner and creator of the series, has said much of anything.

“I’m so profoundly grateful to every person who’s been a part of this journey,” Ayo Edeberi posted on IG along with an “out-of-order” BTS photo dump from the final season. “Thank you to all the hands and hearts that taught me how to hold a knife, that typed and sent drafts of scripts, that touched the clothes and props and sets that helped us find these people and create this world. To our cast. To our crew. Our crew, our crew, our crew. To anyone who let us be a part of their day. To CHICAGO. I love this show and these people. I’m a lucky duck. Lots of love, lots of thanks.”

Other cast members who have posted on social media about the final season include Chris Witaske, Paulie James, Sarah Ramos, Liza Colón-Zayas, Matty Matheson, Lionel Boyce, and Abby Elliott to name a few! The lovefest is on now that the show is out. Maybe one day we’ll learn more about why they ended it here and now, but let’s not look a gift series finale in the mouth! Happy endings like this are, no pun intended, rare.