The search for Red John will be coming to a climax this season on The Mentalist.

With the entire show built around this one over-arching mystery, viewers will finally get the answers they have been waiting for, and they won't even have to wait the whole season. Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) will come face to face with his nemesis before New Year's, according to TV Guide.

"We're not bumping off the suspects one by one," said series creator Bruno Heller, according to TV Guide. "Some will meet an unhappy end, others will live to the denouement."

With such a short time frame, Jane and Lisbon's list of seven suspects will have to dwindle quickly, however. In fact, it has been rumored that by time the first episode, "The Desert Rose," is through, viewers will see the duo eliminate at least one suspect.

What will a post-Red John future hold for the CBI team? It has already been announced that Special Agent Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeomam) and Special Agent Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) will depart by mid-season while two new FBI agents will be introduced. It appears that Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) will have their own problems when it comes to dealing with the serial killer upon capture.

"All these years, Jane's always said, 'I'm going to kill that bastard,'" Heller said, according to TV Guide. "Lisbon's always said, 'I understand you want to do that, but I am the law.' Now that issue is not a theoretical one, it's a real one."

Jane did kill a fake Red John in the past (see video below), so it wouldn't be far fetched for him to do so again.

The Mentalist returns to CBS on Sept. 29.