What's beautiful about the finale is we discover new things about our characters and watch our characters discover things about themselves and we realize that the women in the show are all in very different places than they were when we started this year. We discovered how much they've grown and how much they've been fundamentally changed and that's exciting.

So said Shonda Rhimes to The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview when asked about next Tuesday's "Gone, Baby, Gone" and whether it was written as a season - or a series - finale, given the struggling Private Practice ratings.

The creator emphasized that the episode leaves plenty of material available for a sixth season, as Pete and Violet will come to a realization about their relationship, following events from this week's "Drifting Back," while Amelia will go into labor and Addison will face what ABC hypes as "the hardest decision of her life."

Watch the official trailer now:

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.