Maura Tierney (Abby Lockhart) will exit after a few episodes, and Goran Visnjic (who plays Lockhart's love, Luka Kovac), already signaled his intention to leave but will return briefly next fall to wrap up her storyline.

Mekhi Phifer has not yet signed a new contract, although castmates John Stamos, Parminder Nagra and Linda Cardellini will be back.

Looking ahead to the finale, executive producer John Wells would like some former cast members to come back and say goodbye. But apart from Noah Wyle, whose contract calls for him to return for four more episodes, he hasn't made any overtures.

"I kind of miss all my friends," Wells says of George Clooney, Julianna Margulies and the rest. "It's impossible to approach people and say, 'Hey, would you feel like it?' without knowing what all these (future) stories are going to be. We'd just like them to be part of closing down what everybody started."

On Thursday (10 ET/PT), ER returns for six spring episodes, filling out a strike-shortened season that has benched the series since Jan. 17. Aida Turturro and Hal Holbrook will be guest stars. NBC plans 19 episodes next season, repeat-free, with a finale in late February.

There has been talk that this season would be the show's last as ratings drop but costs climb: The show is NBC's most expensive yet far from its most popular. But while the writers' strike benched the show, it also helped extend it, Wells says.

"We felt there wasn't any way to do the series justice, to conclude it after all these years, when we were going to have to write these (six spring) episodes in three or four weeks."

Now he can plan an ending he had in mind when Anthony Edwards left in ER's eighth season, which he thought might be its last. "It's still pretty much the same idea."

Along with NBC's Law & Order, ER is the longest-running prime-time drama now on TV. After the last patient is treated, it will count 327 episodes.

That's 90 more than Friends, which premiered the same week but called it quits four years ago, and nine years past the funeral for onetime competitor Chicago Hope.

The drama made Clooney a star, peaked at more than 40 million viewers and set a record price tag of $13 million an episode for NBC early in its run.

Though far from those heights, the show's reprieve allows producers to choose how they'll go out. "I didn't want the show to go out creatively with a whimper," Wells says.

"I would like to have people remember us fondly rather than as a guest who won't leave the party."

Enlarge NBC Early goodbyes: Maura Tierney and Goran Visnjic won't stay to the end.

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