Kyra Sedgwick is known best for her role of Brenda Johnson on TNT’s “The Closer”. The show returns for its final season on Monday, July 9 at 9:00pm on TNT. Kyra took out sometime to chat about the show and reflect on her role and the end of the show.
Mike Gencarelli: Why did you decide it was time put a close to “The Closer” (excuse the pun), Was there an epiphany made you have the decision?
Kyra Sedgwick: No, there really wasn’t an epiphany. I think we were in the middle of shooting, gosh it must have been Season 6 actually, when I started to contemplate the idea of what a Season 8 would look like. It was something that I struggled with for many, many months; almost a year really to make the decision. It felt like time, mostly for me as an artist, time for me to do something else. The idea of doing a Season 8, I think felt daunting to me and overwhelming, and sort of just didn’t feel right. I think as an actor you really kind of just have to follow your instincts. It was a hard decision because you’re putting so many other people out of work and there was just a lot of factors that go into making that kind of decision. But, I feel like it’s wonderfu
l that we get to go out on top, we had enough time to close this out in the right way.
MG: When The Closer was first on six years ago it was paled as sort of a groundbreaking show and Brenda was really kind of a revolutionary female character. What do you guys think will be the legacy of this show after it’s over? How will people remember it?
KS: I mean I see her as a significant and sentinel character in the lexicon of female characters ever played for a long period of time, whether it’s a movie series or a television series. I think we broke a lot of ground and I think that we were able to consistently weave exciting story lines with deep and resonating character arcs. I think that that’s something that’s very hard to do, especially in a procedural. And I think that we accomplished that.
MG: What can we expect from the final six episodes? Will there be humor interlaced? Or a pretty dramatic ending?
KS: I would say it’s a dramatic ending. There’s also really fun romp in the second episode of the final six. And yes, there’s always an element of humor. I don’t think we could do our job as well as we do if we didn’t have an element of humor. There’s always humor within, with any kind of law cops always have humor, but there’s also just the interpersonal, recognizable things about each other that when you’re with a family or a cast a long time. There’s a lot of interpersonal winks and people are still who they are, even in the midst of the most dramatic circumstances. So, there are still a lot of laughs and a lot of good character fun stuff.
MG: As you look back on the series, do you have a favorite episode or a favorite story arc that will stand out in your memory?
KS: That’s always so tough for me. I feel like we have so many years to choose from it’s 
hard to pull out some favorites. I’m always most intrigued and feel most satisfied by the character arcs. And by those I mean some of the character arcs with Fritz and Brenda. I loved the whole – their courtship, and then when he finally asks her to marry him in that doctor’s office, you know in between tears of realizing that’s she’s suffering from perimenopausal symptoms that have to be operated on. He asked her to marry her in the most inopportune moment, but it’s beautiful and funny and wonderful. I loved the whole cat arc, the getting the cat and her not wanting the cat, and then the cat becoming, you know an intrinsic part of her life, and then the eventual demise of the cat. I loved the parents. I loved the fact that, no matter what age you are when your parents come to visit you’re suddenly that 12-year old kid again who hasn’t learned anything; hasn’t changed at all. And I so appreciated being able to see that side of Brenda. I loved the personal moments with some of her squad when Detective Sanchez’s brother died and she had to be there for him in a very special and different way. Moments when she had to have Gabriel turn in his badge and his gun and – after he beats up the pedophile. I thought that was, you know very difficult for her and he is her favorite. And I loved that personal moment, so those were among my favorites.
