Larry David Wanted To End ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ A Lot Earlier Than You’d Think (And Which Would Have Robbed Us Of One Of Its Best Characters)

After about a quarter century and only 12 seasons, Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming to an end. Will it end on a note of finality He can’t go to jail, because that’s what his other big show Seinfeld (controversially) did. But could “Larry David” die Also unlikely, because the real David already tried that the first time he tried to end the show, which he apparently wanted to do four presidents ago.

Per The Daily Beast, David recently went on The Bill Simmons Podcast, where he revealed that the original idea was to end the show after Season 5, aka the one where Richard Lewis needs a kidney transplant. In the finale — called “The End” — David converts to Christianity after learning he was adopted and his real parents were gentile Arizonians. He even agrees to give Lewis his kidney, only to briefly die on the operating table.

“I died specifically to end the show,” David explained. “I died and went to heaven. I thought, ‘I’m not going to do this again,’ so I died and went to heaven. I met Ben Hogan and he gave me some golf tips, and my mother.” He also pointed out the title of the episode, which was, again, “The End.”

Alas, in the episode he woke up on the operating table, alive, leaving the show open to a return — which it did, two years later, basically because David had a change of heart.

“I missed it,” David said. “I love doing [the show]. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had.”

It’s worth noting that had David stuck to his guns, he would have robbed us of one of the show’s finest side characters: JB Smoove’s Leon Black, who joined the show in Season 6.

Of course, Curb could try to kill David again, and do it for real this time. But what if in a few years David has another change of heart and wants it back again Surely there’s a good chance the famously tetchy comedy legend will store up a bunch of new complaints then coax HBO to let him air them on their dime.