Curb Your Enthusiasm has been airing on HBO for the past two decades (although there was a significant break between seasons 8 & 9), and the series has shown no signs of slowing down, even if star Larry David believes he's running out of ideas. As David grows older, and the seasons continue, the actor wants to prepare the show for the inevitable. Following the conclusion of Season 11, Larry David was sure Curb would be coming to an end.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Jeff Schaffer planned for the end of the series with a climactic conclusion resulting in a comedic version of Larry David's death, tying up the season's narrative arc. Throughout the Season 11 episodes, Larry David attempts to avoid putting up a fence around his pool for safety reasons, stating how pointless and bad it looks. The season ends with David falling into a pool without the required fence, staying in line with the ironic twists that Curb Your Enthusiasm is known for. Shaffer told THR that the alternate ending included David's death in the pool, however, Larry says, 'I'm not ready to die.'
"Sometimes it's obvious. With the season before, we knew that spite store was going to meet its demise, somehow. But this one, it just felt right. I know I say this all the time, but every season is the last season. And I wanted to prepare as if it was the last one. So Larry kept falling into that pool without the fence and banging his head [for the scene]. We actually have a shot after he'd fallen in, of the still pool with just the envelope floating in the middle, and maybe adding one bubble."
When Schaffer was asked to clarify whether this was Larry David's death, he said:
"We shot as if it was going to be the last one ever. I had to at least prepare for it... This one lent itself too perfectly. We just got high and wide on the pool, with one light shining on it and the envelope floating in the middle. And we said, 'OK, if this is how we go, this is how we go."
Fans should be happy to hear the crew has a plan for the end of Curb Your Enthusiasm, however, that finale may not be for a while if Larry David can continue to provide quality television on HBO.
Jeff Schaffer is Proud of Their Work on Season 11
Maintaining excellence through 11 seasons is no easy feat, but Curb Your Enthusiasm can keep the quality of the content at a consistent level throughout the show's lifespan. When asked about how Season 11 holds up against the rest of Curb, EP Jeff Schaffer says he's proud of the work from the cast and crew.
"I am very proud of this season. Sometimes we don't know where we are going, but this season when we started with Larry finding the dead guy in the pool, right away I knew that we were going to end it with Larry falling into a pool because there was no fence."
There's no official release date for Season 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and it's difficult to predict given the sporadic release schedule of some seasons of the series. However, with Season 10 releasing in 2020 and Season 11 in 2021, we can expect the latest season of the hit HBO show to arrive sometime in late 2022 or early 2023.