Why Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer Had to End Broad City Now

Fans of Broad City have had nearly a full year to come to terms with the idea that the scrappy little comedy created by and starring Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer would end its run with the conclusion of a fifth season. 

And yet, that still hasn't fully prepared us to say goodbye to their alter egos, Abbi Abrams and Ilana Wexler, with the series finale, airing Thursday, March 28 on Comedy Central.

But for the two multi-hyphenates at the heart of the series, who've been not only playing these characters, but also writing, directing, and producing their exploits to some degree or another since launching Broad City as an independently-produced web series a full decade ago, the decision to untangle themselves from their fictional counterparts couldn't have come at a more appropriate time or ring any truer to the heart of project that launched their careers.

"We're ending the show because we really feel like this series captures a certain moment in one's life, a young person's life. And we just wanted to stay true to that," Glazer told Variety on the red carpet ahead of the show's final SXSW screening in early March.
 

"So as our lives related less and less to the characters, we wanted to keep the show going as long as it felt true to us, authentic, and as long as we felt that we were the people to represent the story."

As the pair explained during a Q&A with Comedy Central president Kent Alterman following that screening of the show's final three episodes, the decision was made as they got to work breaking stories for the fifth season, not prior.

Of course, that meant they needed to let Alterman in on their plan. And so, Jacobson invited the exec to coffee to have "the talk." "I did it at Blue Bottle coffee," she whispered into her microphone. Luckily, he understood.





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