'Entourage' ends next year, HBO says

Vinny Chase, Ari Gold and the boys of "Entourage" will be riding off into the sunset next year.

Michael Lombardo, HBO's president of programming, said Saturday (Aug. 7) at the Television Critics Association press tour, confirmed executive producer Mark Wahlberg's earlier statements that the show would end in 2011. "Next summer will definitely be the final season," Lombardo says.

Series creator Doug Ellin is thinking about how to end the series, Lombardo says. HBO and the producers haven't settled on an exact number of episodes for the final season -- "We've talked about six," Lombardo says -- but it will be shorter than a typical season.

Lombardo also confirms Wahlberg's statement that a feature film version of the show could follow the series finale. Ellin "clearly wants to write a film," Lombardo says, "but he also wants to do it when the storytelling makes sense."

The current season of "Entourage" wraps up on Sept. 12.

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Photo credit: HBO