TNT's LEVERAGE to Conclude Series Run Following Season 5 Finale

TNT's Leverage has thrilled audiences with its delightfully intricate plots, its "stand up for the little guy" attitude and its terrific performances from stars Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge. But after five wonderful years, it's time to say goodbye. Leverage will come to a close on Christmas, Tuesday, Dec. 25, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), with a series finale that stands as one of the show's best episodes.

The network says they "are honored to have worked with executive producer Dean Devlin, Electric Entertainment, creators John Rogers and Chris Downey, and all the cast and production crew on Leverage. We look forward to exploring new opportunities to work with them again in the future. We also want to thank the passionately devoted fans of Leverage, who have been the driving force behind its success."

Leverage focuses on a team of five top-notch specialists out to give everyday people a helping hand against the machinations of corrupt bigwigs. Leading the crew is mastermind Nate Ford (Hutton), a former insurance investigator whose son died when his employer refused to pay for life-saving surgery. Sophie Devereaux (Bellman) is the team's resident grifter, a brilliant con artist who shares a long and complicated history with Nate - both professionally and romantically. Eliot Spencer (Kane) provides muscle as the team's bone-crunching retrieval specialist with a passion for gourmet cooking and a soft spot for the underdog. Gadget and technology wizard Alec Hardison (Hodge) provides the team with everything from communications and video surveillance to target dossiers and virtual environments, rarely getting the credit he feels he deserves. And Parker (Riesgraf) is the team's thief, a slightly off-center charmer who gets giddy at the thought of rappelling off a building or cracking an unbreakable safe.

Since premiering in 2008, Leverage has been a solid hit, averaging more than 3.8 million viewers in its fifth season, with 1.4 million adults 18-49 and 1.7 million adults 25-54. Leverage is executive-produced by Dean Devlin (Independence Day, TNT's The Librarian movie series) and creators John Rogers (Transformers) and Chris Downey (The King of Queens). The series is produced for TNT by Devlin's Electric Entertainment.