Is there a planned end date for ABC's fantasy series Once Upon a Time?

Once Upon a Time is approaching the end of its fifth season, with ABC renewing the show for a sixth season to begin airing this fall. Many shows are lucky to stay on the air for so long, but the show's creators have no intention of stopping now.

The show's co-creators and executive producers, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, spoke with Entertainment Weekly recently about whether they have a plan in place to end the series anytime soon.

"We certainly have endpoints in mind for many of our characters and where we want the story to go and finish up, but we have different ways of getting there," Horowitz said. "We're not, at this point, setting a specific end date for the show. But what we are doing is taking the luxury of knowing we have another season to be able to continue our long-term planning."

Having said all that, they don't intend to end the series after season 6.

"We could change our minds in a few months, but right now we're just trying to get out of [season] 5," Kitsis explained. "We have plans for season 6. Listen, there's a time and a place where, at a certain point, characters either need to find their happiness or not, and we are aware of that. We're just not ready to answer that question yet."

Kitsis and Horowitz previously worked on the ABC series Lost together, a show that had a very specific end date planned. But the co-creators noted that Lost and Once Upon a Time are ultimately different shows.

"It's a different thing than Lost," Horowitz said. "There are some similarities in our storytelling—that's where we came from—but Lost was a much more closed-ended show that needed that kind of ending."

The series also benefits from the Disney synergy (Disney owns ABC), so it's possible we'll see it last on the airwaves for quite some time, as long as the ratings don't slip too much.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Watch the promo for the next episode of Once Upon a Time here:

Tags: Once Upon A Time television ABC