Still, the Shield’s anti-hero has been one of TV’s most compelling characters for the past 6 years. The show’s long life span and loyal fan-base are evidence of that.

It appears that the show will go on, unaffected by the writer’s strike. However, creator Shawn Ryan, to whom the show owes its success, will not be involved in shooting the remainder of the final season’s episodes. Ryan is heavily involved in and deeply committed to the writer’s strike; even though he is conflicted over not being a part of the show he spent the past seven years of his life on. He explains in a letter posted last month on a Variety Magazine blog:

Tomorrow, we begin to film the Series Finale of “The Shield”. I think it’s the best script our writing staff has ever written. This is the show that made me. This is the show that is my baby. If the strike goes on longer than two weeks, I won’t be able to step on set for the final episode of the show. I won’t have a writer on set, as I have had on every episode since the fourth episode. I won’t be able to edit this final culminating episode. I won’t go to the wrap party that Fox TV and FX are paying for. You can’t tell me that any episode of television is more important than this one is to me, and I am ready to forego all those things in order to strengthen my union.

Along with HBO’s The Wire, The Shield stands on the top of TV’s cop show heap. Despite Ryan’s absence, the series finale is in the can and all of us Shield fans are crossing out the days on our calendars in anticipation of some serious good television.