Alicia & Kalinda scene in The Good Wife was faked

If you thought the final scene between Alicia and Kalinda on The Good Wife was too good to be true, you were right.

EW has learned that Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick) and Archie Panjabi (Kalinda Sharma) did not shoot the bar scene together for last Sunday’s season finale. The bittersweet moment between the two on-and-off-again friends not only signaled that Kalinda was leaving Alicia’s life forever, but it also marked Archie Panjabi’s last episode on the show. Panjabi told EW that as early as two years ago that she intended to leave the drama at the end of her six-year deal.

The way the scene was edited did nothing to quash rumors of a longstanding feud between the show’s two female stars. Though a CBS spokeswoman would not comment, stories have circulated for years about an ongoing riff that began as early as the first season. The cold war seemed to continue on-screen, as the women stopped appearing together in scenes over the last few seasons.

When asked by EW to comment on that fact, Panjabi said, “I think that’s a question you need to ask the producers. What is great is that relationship between the two women is one of the best relationships on TV in terms of it being the most honest. Hopefully, you may see something of that before I leave.”

Panjabi was the first cast member to win an Emmy for The Good Wife in 2010. Margulies won the following year and again in 2014.