'The Good Wife' finale: Showrunner responds to Josh Charles rumors

With the clock ticking down to The Good Wife‘s series finale on May 8, rumors are circulating that Josh Charles will return as Will Gardner one season after the beloved character was killed in a courtroom shooting. During the show’s farewell panel at the Tribeca Film Festival Sunday, showrunner Michelle King may have given fans hope.

“I’ve heard that rumor,” she told Entertainment Weekly editor Henry Goldblatt, who hosted the panel featuring leading lady Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick), Matt Czuchry (Cary Agos), Cush Jumbo (Lucca Quinn), and showrunner Robert King, Michelle’s husband.

But she also didn’t rule out additional rumors as plot possibilities. “I heard that Peter is going to be starting another affair,” explained Michelle, seemingly joking. “I heard that Alicia and Eli kissed. I heard that Alicia and Jason ran off happily together. And I heard that Michelle Obama guest starred. And I will tell you that one of those is true.”

Charles or no Charles, Margulies promises the Kings will deliver a “satisfying, uplifting and sad” conclusion to the five-time Emmy-winning CBS drama. “We have a wonderful working relationship,” Margulies said of the pair. “They always say when they send the scripts, ‘If any of you’ — meaning any of the actors — ‘have any problems with anything or concerns, please write us as soon as you can for time purposes.’ I usually write them right away — glowingly, you know — but this time, I just couldn’t do it. So I opened the wine [they gave me]. And I poured a wee glass, not an Alicia-sized glass because you’d be drunk. And then I read it a fourth time and then I could digest it. I wrote them, I think, three lines: ‘Nothing but brilliant.'”

Having loved the show long before she joined the cast this season, Jumbo offered the perspective of a loyal fan. “They’re not going to let you down,” the English actress said of the finale. “They’re not going to just sleep with you and walk away. They’re going to cuddle you for a while. And then they’re gonna leave.”

The event also offered a sneak peek of the fourth to last episode of The Good Wife, which airs Sundays on CBS at 9 p.m. ET.