Conviction's Merrin Dungey Says the (Series) Finale Will Be Open-Ended

On Tuesday, ABC announced that it would not be ordering more episodes of the underperforming Hayley Atwell-starring legal procedural Conviction, effectively canceling the freshman series. All 13 episodes ordered will be produced and air, and the network has not officially canceled the series, but it's very unlikely it will be back next season.

In an interview with TVGuide.com, Conviction's Merrin Dungey, who plays Conviction Integrity Unit investigator Maxine Bohen, confirmed that there are no plans to do more than the initial 13 episodes, but the finale will be open-ended.

Dungey says that while ABC likes the show, the network's programming slate is just very crowded right now. Fans shouldn't worry about not seeing all the Conviction possible. "We were ordered for 13 and we're going to do the full 13," she says.

Dungey didn't close the door on the possibility of more Conviction, confirming that the episode that will serve as the probable series finale will leave open the potential for more CIU cases, though there are no plans to keep the show going on another network at this time.

Further complicating matters is the fact that ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey is Merrin's sister. Merrin says she doesn't get any inside info on the inner workings of the network -- or even any tips about her own show. She didn't find out about Conviction's failure to be picked up from her sister.

But she did get a cryptic message before Conviction was picked up in May.

"She sent me a little text, a little email, that was just a bunch of exclamation points," says Merrin. So that's the extent of her preferential treatment.

Conviction airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.