BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — More then 6 1/2 years ago, Michael Chiklis began his saga as Vic Mackey, one of the most complicated anti-heroes in television history.

On the first episode of "The Shield," Mackey shot and killed a fellow officer. That fellow cop was a mole sniffing out the illegal activities of Vic and his team, who played fast and loose with the law while taking down some of the toughest criminals in the toughest part of Los Angeles.

And 88 episodes stretched over almost seven years later, Vic's actions are coming home to roost in the series finale, which airs tonight at 11 on FX.

"He's a man who is plagued by regret and the fallout of his actions starting from pretty much Day 1 of the series," Chiklis said. "And all of those actions have led to other actions and created a sort of course that ... leads him to where it ends up."

Asked whether Vic gets what he deserves — and warned by creator/executive producer Shawn Ryan to be careful how he answered — Chiklis said, "That's in the eye of the beholder."

"Because it's the last season, I think that the writers were able to write with a certain almost reckless abandon where they knew that things were spiraling out of control and unwinding and one bomb after another drops that you can't take back," Chiklis said. "Let's put it that way. And that makes for some really dynamic and exciting television that we're all just very proud to be a part of."

And the process of making "The Shield" felt more like making a movie than making a weekly TV series.

"As a whole, I feel like it's the longest movie ever made. I look at it as one big movie, with the beginning, a middle and an end," Chiklis said. "The writers have continually been able to do something that I marvel at, which is to come up with twists and turns. And when you watch them, they're so surprising and stunning.

"But then when you look back at it, you go, 'Well, yeah, that makes perfect sense. And what thrills me about the finale is you will not see this coming. ... When you look back at (it) you'll go, 'Holy cow! Yeah, that's exactly right."'

Chiklis expressed no small degree of wistfulness as he discussed the end of "The Shield." For one thing, it's the show that turned his image around. Previously, he had been best known as the lead in the lightweight cop show "The Commish" (1991-96); playing Vic Mackey, he became the first cable-drama star to win a best-actor Emmy (2002).

For another, he obviously has strong feelings for the people he worked with on "The Shield."

"It's very difficult when you've gone through probably the most familial and incredible professional experiences of your lives collectively, and it's over," Chiklis said. "There's a tremendous amount of pride that we feel. And no one is more critical of us than us. I can tell you that. We just really labor over it. I think, though, because it's over now, we're looking at each other and going, 'Wow, that was incredibly satisfying, incredibly gratifying on a personal level, on a professional level, on an artistic level.' And that's just, I think, across the board that's the way we feel."

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