Once Upon a Time to end after season 7 

Craig Sjodin/ABC; Inset: Image Group LA/ABC (2)

is about to reach its happily ever after: The long-running ABC fairy tale drama will end its run after seven seasons, EW has learned.

Created by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, the series debuted in 2011 with an ambitious premise:

would transplant the fairy tale characters viewers had come to know and love to the real world thanks to a Dark Curse, cast by the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla), that could only be broken by the daughter (Jennifer Morrison) of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas).

After six seasons, most of the original cast departed, including Morrison, Goodwin, and Dallas. The series then shifted to follow an adult Henry Mills (Andrew J. West, in the role originated by Jared Gilmore) trapped in the cursed Seattle neighborhood of Hyperion Heights alongside originals Regina (Parrilla) and Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle), as well as season 2 addition Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue).

was the No. 1 new drama in the coveted 18-49 demographic, averaging 11.8 million total viewers and a 4.1 in the demo.

during its third season. The show, which consistently ranked among the top 20 TV shows on broadcast in the demo during each of its first four seasons, dropped in subsequent years, down to an average of 4.5 million and a 1.5 in the demo in season 6. The combination of a major cast overhaul and its move to Fridays led to a ratings average of 3.8 million and a 1.1, season to date, in season 7.

After seven years, 156 episodes, and countless twists on beloved characters,

will officially say farewell in a series finale slated for May. EW caught up with Horowitz and Kitsis to get their reaction to the show ending, what’s in store for the finale, and how they inadvertently made history with the show most critics thought would be immediately canceled.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What came with the decision to end the show? Was that ABC’s decision or yours?

EDWARD KITSIS: Listen, we love this show, we were happy to continue going on, but collectively they felt that, after seven years and 156 episodes, it was time. For us, we’re like, “It’s a hell of a run.” We never thought we’d get to seven episodes, let alone seven years.

ADAM HOROWITZ: It wasn’t like it was a shocking phone call. We’ve had conversations for a while about what this year would be, and whether it would go on or not, and if this could be the end, so we’ve been prepared for this for a while. The network has been incredible partners with us the whole way, as has the studio. Ultimately, it’s also a business, so it becomes about, “Is it financially viable to keep going forward?” so there’s all that kind of stuff, stuff that we generally don’t deal with because we’re just focused mostly on the creative. We reached that point where it’s like, “Okay, now it’s time to wrap it up. This has been an amazing 156 episode-run, and let’s all be proud of what we’ve done and try to wrap it up.”

KITSIS: It’s time to declare victory and go home.

What was your first reaction when you found out

KITSIS: We felt grateful for the opportunity. Obviously, we felt sad that, after seven years of living in this universe, [it’s over]. It has been so creatively rewarding, but at the same time, we have got everything out of

that we ever dreamt of and we really can’t complain, and we really can’t feel sad. We just feel really grateful for what we accomplished — 156 episodes, seven years is a good run.

HOROWITZ: It’s funny because it wasn’t like it was a shock. When we spoke on the phone with them about it, it was like more like, “Okay, it’s time. This feels right. This feels like we’ve had a great run, let’s try to end the show in a way that will leave the fans with a good feeling about what

was that will stay with them past the end of the show.”

Has ABC given you enough notice to be able to properly wrap things up?

KITSIS: Yes, I would say that we did not go into this season assuming there would be a season 8, so we had two paths for the finale — one where it was closed-ended, one where it was open-ended. We had been building toward it the whole year anyways, so instead of a cliffhanger, it will just be a closed-ended story that wraps it up. But we’re prepared and ready, so we weren’t shocked by it.

HOROWITZ: Yeah, these are conversations, again, that we’ve had for many months with the network about the possibility of this, so we’ve been preparing and always known this was a real possibility.

KITSIS: We did have a plan for a potential season 8 just because, as I said, we went into the year knowing one of two things were going to happen, so throughout the year, you don’t ever want to be surprised if you can, so we had a plan for season 8, but that’s okay.

You already executed your plan for what you envisioned a series finale would be in the season 6 finale. So what’s that feeling like now trying to find a way to wrap everything up in a hopeful way?

HOROWITZ: That’s something we’ve thought about long and hard entering this season. For us, the season 6 finale really was a series finale in the sense of ending a six-year story and paying off a lot of that. For us, this is more the feeling of

, so rather than bringing everybody back to do it again, it’s more about trying to have nods to the past seven years, but really make it about what is that hopeful, optimistic worldview that

has always embodied. We want to leave the audience with that.

Some fans would’ve liked the series to end with the original cast. Do you have any regrets about this rebooted season?

KITSIS: That’s a weird question in the sense that if fans wanted that, they had the option of that: They didn’t have to watch this season. For us, we ended it the way we wanted to, but we were all still having fun and we wanted to see what would happen if we shook it up and did it. I don’t ever regret taking a creative risk because that’s why we got into this business.

, if you remember, was every critics’ prediction to be the first show canceled, so we wanted to see what would happen if we shook it up and moved on. I loved a lot of the episodes we did this year. I loved working on them. I loved working on them with the people, so I have zero regrets, but for the fans who felt like that should’ve been the ending, then for them, it is.

HOROWITZ: I agree with Eddy. I don’t have any regrets about it at all. I think we’ve done some great episodes, and some of our best episodes yet are still to come this season. For fans who miss the original cast, we miss them, too. They were all great friends of ours and we really enjoyed working with them. But as life moves on, people go in different directions and do different things. Taking aside all the creative stuff about this show, it’s been one of the joys about making this show, which is all the amazing people that we’ve been able to collaborate with, from the cast to the crew to the studio and network. And cast members who left last year, we still see them all the time and we’re friends. It’s created what we think are lifelong friendships and bonds that have been incredible. For the fans, they get that as well, too. They’ve now met these characters, and even though some left the show last year, and some will now leave the show after this year, they can always be a part of them thanks to Netflix.

With all that said, will you be bringing back any of the originals for the series finale?

KITSIS: We’ll have some familiar faces from the first six years return in the finale.

In the age of reboots and revivals, what’s that discussion like about giving closure while also keeping a story somewhat open-ended?

, as we’ve said, fairy tales never say, “The End,” they say, “Happily Ever After.” So there can always be a next chapter to an ever after. For us, we’re not trying to put a bow on the show. Even last year, the season finale could’ve been a series finale, as you said, but if you remember, they just kept on living their lives and that was their happy ending. We will end it in a way that’s hopefully satisfying, but if someone years from now wants to do a spin-off or reboot, have at it, but my guess is it would be a full reboot.

HOROWITZ: I’m going to give you one big spoiler: Everyone doesn’t die at the end. So the characters still exist, and they will, as Eddy said, continue on with their happily ever afters — it’s in the same way that we created this show, where we took iconic characters who have stories already and told new stories with them, so I think there’s always room for that. Whether we do it or someone else does it, or the fans just do it with fan fiction, I think in some ways, the show will continue to live on and that’s incredibly gratifying.

opera out there, and we had nothing to do with it, but it’s awesome, I hear.

Are you done with this world entirely? Or do you feel like you could come back to it sometime down the line, even if it’s a spin-off in the vein of

KITSIS: Right now, I guess, we are putting it to bed, and we’re going to be looking for what’s next. But if there was a clever enough idea for a spinoff or something else to do, I doubt we would be averse to it, because

HOROWITZ: We have no plans for anything like that right now. I think the only plan we have right now is to take a long nap after this season, but we love the show, we love the world, we love the characters, we love everything about it. For now, we just want to leave the fans with hopefully a wonderful feeling coming out of the season and the series, let them enjoy it however they want to. If it lives on, it does, and if not, we had an incredible time making this show and are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do it.

Was there talk, either now or in the past, about doing another spin-off?

KITSIS: There hasn’t been, because the show itself is so much like a spin-off. Every year is different, one year can be in Wonderland, one is in Neverland. We go back and forth. Since

, we haven’t really entertained the idea of a spin-off, but in today’s world, you never say never.

HOROWITZ: One of the things that’s been amazing to us about this show, beyond just the show itself, is there have been books, comic books, and all sorts of stuff like that that it’s taken on a life of its own in its own way. It’s a universe out there for people to enjoy still and discover, but in terms of specifically looking at, “Are we going to do the adventures of so-and-so in some other land?” We have no plans to do that right now, or really to think about

other than trying to wrap up the season in the best way we can right now.

bosses discuss how they inadvertently made history, talk about their regrets, and reveal what’s ahead for the series finale.