Parks and Recreation: Finale Recap and Will Next Season Be the Shows Last?

Wow that was one crazy episode of Parks and Recreation, am I right? Lets see Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance, Leslie Knope took a new job, the unity concert to end all unity concerts finally happened, and then there was a... time jump? What?

The season finale of the sixth season of Parks and Rec featured one of the most surprising season enders of the series so far. The episode, which could have acted as more of a series finale, could switch up everything we know and love about the show.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Michael Schur got the chance to address why the creators threw a curveball at the viewers.

Schur said that once NBC had "given really every assurance" that there would be another season, the creative team wanted to "throw a crazy wrench into the works," something that could change the course of the rest of the series.

So why the three year time jump, why not twenty years?

"It seemed like enough time to be for really radical change without everybody having gray hair," Schur said.

So will the show take place in flashbacks a la Lost and Once Upon a Time? Schur said there were be a few flashback scenes but that "the main action of the season will take place in that slightly futurescape."

And what about April, Tom, Ron, and Donna? Did all of our favorite Pawneeans make the time jump with Leslie? Schur assured fans that everyone would be back for the new season but it was unclear as to how they would be involved with Leslie's new job. 

Now prepare yourself for some pretty sad news. When asked about the future of the show, Schur told Entertainment Weekly that next season would most likely be the shows last.

"It's fairly likely that next year will be the last. The natural rhythm of the show and the big creative jump we take at the end of this season certainly suggests that we're moving in that direction."