Season 5 of The Shield wraps up this Tuesday at 10 PM on F/X with a 90 minute finale, but what kind of finale are we talking about here? For a while I was under the impression that this season had been extended to 21 episodes and it would be split up. But now I'm starting to wonder.

If this is indeed the end of the season (it's not being billed as the series finale), then it's coming in short anyway. Seasons 1, 2, and 4 all had 13 episodes and season 3 was stretched to 15. Counting next week's (mid-season?) finale makes 11 for season 5. Keith reported on a season 5 extension a few months back, but since then I've heard nothing on this. I've seen no press releases or found anything saying as such after googling the topic for about an hour. F/X hasn't even had previews stating that there's more to come, unless that's what we'll get after the finale next week.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe the split season idea has been tossed and we're getting a sixth (and final?) season next year. Anyone else have a theory?

(There's a couple of updates after the jump.)