PEN15's Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle discuss their series finale, described as "one of the more brutal episodes of a coming-of-age series to air on television"

Vulture

Konkle says she and Erskine wrote the final episodes knowing they would conclude their acclaimed series. "Yeah, we knew it would be the last ones," says Konkle. "I think our language at the time was, 'You never know what’ll happen in the future,' and we still feel like this. But we wanted to tie up the story in a way we felt was appropriate and write the episodes in a way that we would be proud if they were our last ones. If, in the next ten years, there are any other stories that come to us and we’re like, “Oh, we have to tell this,” this frame allows for that. But the characters are in seventh grade forever, and the show’s just not going to go on forever. That was always the idea."