AceShowbiz -

"Downton Abbey" fans may need to get ready to bid farewell to the whole Crawley family. Following persistent rumor that the show will end after six seasons, multiple sources now confirm that the upcoming sixth season will be the last for the hit drama series.

TVLine points out that the actors' contracts are going to expire at the end of season 6 and most of them are ready to move on. "You can keep the show going without Matthew and Sybill, but you can't continue it without the entire Crawley family," an insider tells TVLine.

NBCUniversal, the parent of the show's production company Carnival Films, refuses to comment on the report.

Earlier this month, Maggie Smith who played Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, hinted that the show's nearing its end. "They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on," she told the Sunday Times.

Series creator Julian Fellowes, meanwhile, said it wasn't his decision to end or continue the show. "I don't own 'Downton Abbey' now. NBC Universal [which owns Carnival Films] owns 'Downton Abbey'. So I could walk away, but I wouldn't walk away. It's too much my baby," he coyly told New York Times. "It won't go on forever - I'm not a believer in that. But I can't immediately now tell you where the end will be."

Still, ending the show after a sixth season would be an appropriate decision since Fellowes is already committed to another show, "The Gilded Age", which has been developed at NBC.