After five seasons of Chuck peppered with Subway sandwich campaigns and eleventh-hour renewals, it's clear that the spy series owes much of its life to its passionate fan base.
Check out photos from Chuck through the years
"It's funny being on this show because it's such an -- I don't know if the word is 'honor' — to be a part of a show where the fans were so behind it because it's so mysterious," actor Vik Sahay told reporters at the set visit for Chuck's two-hour series finale (Friday, 8/7c, NBC). "It's so elusive how things connect with fans because you can kind of take all of the pieces of why it should and put them together and it often doesn't. So that kind of alchemy between the show and the fans is stunning. It's what's allowed the producers to create the show that they created. It's something that I've never experienced before, and it's so moving, and I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to experience that kind of back and forth again."
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Zachary Levi doesn't have any regrets that Chuck is ending with only a 13-episode fifth season.
"I don't feel like we were cut short, as difficult as it is to shut this last chapter on this journey," he told reporters at a December set visit for Chuck's two-hour series finale (Friday, 8/7c, NBC). "I think five seasons is actually a really good amount of time. ... For something like this, which is definitely story arcs and serial, how many bad guys and missions can you go on before you feel like you're repeating the same thing? So I feel like we've gotten a really perfect amount of time together and it's been special from Day One."
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After five years of the geek getting the girl, far-flung fantasy spy missions and a cavalcade of nerd-dom's finest guest stars, it's easy to see why Levin isn't exactly complaining. In fact, he and his fellow castmates were only too happy to reminisce.
Check out the Chuck cast's memorable moments and their emotional reaction to the final season:
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Can Chuck and Sarah recapture that loving feeling?
"The show's a romance," Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak told reporters at a set visit in December. "I think that's what we discovered very early on in the show, that the moment we put Zach [Levi] and Yvonne [Strahovski] together, the show became about them. I think the Chuck and Sarah story is at the heart of the show."
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Chuck's two-hour series finale wraps up the fan-favorite spy show with plenty of action, snazzy outfits, heartwarming moments and a song.
"The finale is very much haunted by seasons past. This is an episode that's not only a finale for Season 5, but also five seasons of television," series co-creator Chris Fedak told reporters on the final set visit in December. "So we're going to be bringing back a lot of things that it wouldn't be an episode unless we saw Yvonne [Strahovski] in the cat suit, also wearing an evening gown dancing the tango."
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Have Chuck and Sarah been naughty this year? On Friday's Chuck (8/7c, NBC), it looks like Santa is bringing them something far worse than a lump of coal: their old nemesis Daniel Shaw!
"We wanted to do a Christmas story, and Christmas is such a holiday that's haunted, like in the Charles Dickens tradition," Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak tells reporters during a December set visit. "We thought, 'Let's bring a monster from our past.' At the end of Season 3, Brandon [Routh] was such a good 'muahaha' bad guy. I was like, I've got to bring back the 'muahaha.'"
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