Amy Acker

When listing the things they’re thankful for on Thanksgiving, the cast and crew of "Alias" will probably skip "steady employment."

While it has been widely assumed that this season, the show’s fifth, would be the ABC spy drama’s last, the network made the official announcement on Wednesday that this May’s finale will conclude the adventures of Sydney Bristow and friends.

"This news, and its timing, is a mixed-blessing," says Executive Producer Jeff Pinkner in a statement. "Though we’re obviously very saddened to face the reality that ’Alias’ is coming to an end, the lasting quality of every good story is determined by its conclusion — this news gives us the freedom to end the series in the climactic way it deserves." The original concept for "Alias" came to creator J.J. Abrams back when he was working on his college drama, "Felicity," for The WB. One year he brainstormed that wouldn’t it "just rock" if the main character, a university student, was recruited by the CIA and then had to go off and save the world while keeping her college friends in the dark.

Even though he continued to call the premise "ludicrous," Abrams did think it had the potential to be a comic book or cartoon come to life on its own.

ABC agreed and the story of grad student/international Sydney Bristow — whose life became even more complicated when the agency she worked for killed her fiance and she learned her father was also a secret agent — was born.

Abrams and his team managed to rest the clock on the show a number of times, fearlessly scrapping storylines and setting the charcters’ world on ear at the drop of a dime ... or for a coveted post-Super Bowl spot.

This season, with star Jennifer Garner slightly restrained from many physical stunts due to her real-life pregnancy, the show attempted to reinvent itself once again with the addition of Rachel Nichols and Balthazar Getty to the cast. And the network promises that the announcement of its demise is really more of an effort to give "Alias" the send-off it has earned.

"Right out of the box, ’Alias’ attracted a cult following of fans that were completely invested in the show," says ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. "’Alias’ is not going to wind down as it comes to an end, it’s going to rev up, and we’re going to make it the event it deserves to be."