Reports: 'Downton' 6th season to be last

PBS pledge-drive break hosts are gonna have a real conundrum on their hands after next season: What are they going to plug when Downton Abbey likely ends next year?

On Friday, TV Line reported that it has multiple sources saying that the period drama will conclude after the upcoming sixth season. British network ITV, which produces Downton, usually airs the show in fall, followed by PBS in January.

The main reason is that the cast's contracts expire and most of the actors are ready to explore other projects. You can't blame them — six years is a long time, and they waited longer than Dan Stevens (Matthew) and Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil), who opted for onscreen deaths last year.

Writer/creator Julian Fellowes already has his next project lined up: NBC's The Gilded Age, a look at the upper crust in 1880s New York.

We'll second Vanity Fair's list of demands for the final season: If Fellowes ends thing without a happy ending for Lady Edith, Bates and Anna free of criminal charges or a wedding for Carson and Mrs. Hughes, we're coming for him with pitchforks.