Season 6 of HBO’s tech comedy Silicon Valley has been delayed, moving what may be the show’s final season to a potential premiere date in 2020. The decision is based in part on the busy schedule of showrunner Alec Berg, who is busy working on season 2 HBO’s Emmy-winning Barry, alongside Bill Hader. But the decision to delay the next season also points to how flexible HBO and other premium channels or streaming services have become with regard to release schedules, as the emphasis now seems to be on accommodating a show’s creators to produce the best possible end result. 

Such a delay is nothing new for HBO, as the network’s highest rated program, Game of Thrones, recently took an extended hiatus between seasons 7 and 8, so that creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss could spend more time crafting the show’s final season. The same was true of the big-budget Westworld, which not only halted production on the first season for a little creative re-jiggering, but also took more than a year off between seasons 1 and 2, and will do the same between seasons 2 and 3. So, though it may seem a little odd that Silicon Valley won’t be on in 2019, this isn’t exactly new territory for HBO. 

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The news was first reported by TVLine, which stated the reason was, in fact, to allow Berg time to focus on both series. According to a representative from the network, the decision was made to let Barry finish production first. The representative said, “As Alec is a showrunner on both Barry and Silicon Valley, the schedule was structured to allow Alec to wrap on Barry before starting work on Silicon Valley.”

Kumail Nanjiani and Martin Starr in Silicon Valley Season 5

Another aspect worth considering is the likelihood that season 6 may well be the end of the line for Silicon Valley. Both Berg and star Thomas Middleditch have discussed the length of the series in total, and it seems as though the consensus is that Silicon Valley is likely very close to wrapping up its storyline. That would certainly seem like the right move, considering the season 5 finale saw Pied Piper emerge victorious after nearly collapsing entirely, before arch nemesis Gavin Belson watched as his company, Hooli, was swallowed up by Amazon. 

Six season would be a good run for the series, which recently recovered from the departure of co-star TJ Miller by delivering one of its strongest seasons yet. As most shows want to go out on a high note, bringing Silicon Valley to an end with season 6 might be the right decision. If that’s the case, it looks like fans will have to wait a while to see how the show wraps up. 

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Silicon Valley seasons 1-5 are available on HBO Go and HBO Now. 

Source: TVLine