'The Big C' Canceled: Laura Linney Series To End After Season 4

"The Big C" has been canceled. Showtime will end the Laura Linney series after its upcoming fourth season, the network announced at the 2012 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. The fourth season will be made up of four one-hour installments, though the episodes have previously been 30 minutes long.

The series follows Linney's character, Cathy Jamison, as she deals with stage four melanoma. Linney won a Golden Globe for her work on the show, which co-stars Oliver Platt, Gabourey Sidibe and John Benjamin Hickey. Season 3 ended with Linney's character running away from her family.

"The Big C" has been tackling seasons of the calendar year with each season of the show. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter from June 2012, "The Big C" executive producer Jenny Bicks discussed her plans for Season 4.

"The next stage of grief is depression and it leads to acceptance; how we would play with those we have a good sense of but the fourth season would not entirely be depression," Bicks said. "We are going to move through depression fairly quickly. You're not going to necessarily see these things so literally."

"The Big C" is just the latest Showtime series to plot an ending. "Weeds" will sign off after its current eighth and final season. Meanwhile, "Dexter" will come to an end after its Season 8. Season 7 of "Dexter" will premiere on Sun., Sept. 30 at 9 p.m. ET.