“It’s everything I can do to keep from losing my s—t,” says Levi, his eyes welling, his words catching in his throat. “Almost every scene in the finale has been tough to handle. Chuck is saying goodbye to certain characters that mean the world to him. The last scene we shot at the Buy More — the very soul of our show — was so hard we couldn’t go home. We all just sat around on the set in the dark for hours afterward sharing memories. I was a mess.”

His leading lady isn’t doing much better. “It’s so sad it’s crazy,” says Strahovski as she reaches for a paper towel off the snack table and dabs at her eyes. “To think I won’t have this show and these people — this family — in my life anymore! I was hoping to get away with maybe a tear or two, but I can’t stop doing the ugly cry.”