‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ To Officially End With Season 12 On HBO

This is pretty, pretty, pretty sad news.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is officially coming to an end with Season 12 on HBO.

Every season creator and star Larry David says that he’s ending the show, but this time it seems it’s real.

“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,” said David. “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.”

Season 12 will premiere February 4 and the 10-part series will air its finale April 7.

It’s been a fantastic run for the show, which started in 1999 as a one-hour special Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm (where David and his then wife Cheryl had kids, by the way).

The first season proper premiered in October 2000. The first eight seasons were pretty regular, coming ever year or every other year. But there was a big gap of over six years between seasons eight and nine and a three-year gap between season nine and 10, so it’s not out of the question that David changes his mind at some point and returns to the scriptless comedy.

In March, producer Jon Hayman caused noise on social media by saying that Season 12 was going to be its last.

Exec producer Jeff Schaffer, David’s longtime partner on the show, subsequently dampened this story by saying that “reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

“We literally just finished shooting last week. So, yeah, we’re done,” he said, adding that the crew, including David himself, ends each season with the expectation that the series may or may not continue.

Sadly, it seems this time, Hayman was right.

Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO, HBO & Max Content, previously said that the network leaves this decision to David and said that more seasons are an “open invitation.”

Curb stars David as an exaggerated version of himself living in L.A. (and for one fantastic season, New York). It stars Jeff Garlin as his manager and best friend; Susie Essman as Jeff’s expletive-laden wife (who can forget that carwash line in Season 3); Cheryl Hines as his ex-wife; J.B. Smoove as his roommate who never left after his Black family (also featuring Vivica A. Fox) appeared in Season 6 following Hurricane Katrina; Richard Lewis as his oldest pal; Ted Danson as himself, who at one point dates David’s ex-wife Cheryl; Vince Vaughn, who plays Freddy Funkhouser, the half-brother of Marty Funkhouser, played by the late, great Bob Einstein; and Tracey Ullman, who played Irma Kostroski, City Councilwoman (and for a moment his beautiful revolting girlfriend) in Season 11.

The show has been hugely acclaimed as well, amassing 51 Emmy nominations and two wins for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for Robert B. Weide, and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series for Steven Rasch. It has received 10 nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series but never won (c’mon Academy). It also has five Golden Globe nominations and one win as well as multiple nominations and wins across other awards including SAG, DGA and WGA.

Then, there’s the guest stars. It has featured memorable turns from Mel Brooks, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Christian Slater, Rosie O’Donnell (remember that fight scene?), Michael J. Fox, Ricky Gervais, Lin-Manuel Miranda, F. Murray Abraham and David Schwimmer.

There was also a Seinfeld reunion season, which saw Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards work on a reboot of the classic NBC comedy that David co-created in order for Larry to win his ex-wife back.

David exec produces alongside Garlin and Schaffer, with Laura Streicher and Jennifer Corey as co-exec producers.

Bloys added, “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. Working alongside Larry David and 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.”