Late last year we learned the saddening, if expected news that Louis C.K. would step back from Louie once again, perhaps taking a Curb Your Enthusiasm approach with periodic returns. It doesn’t seem as if a few months have changed the comedian’s mind, as both he and FX “just don’t know” if and when Louie will return.

Speaking at the TCA press tour panel (I think I can type that phrase one-handed at this point), FX boss John Landgraf said of C.K.’s commitment to future Louie that:

He hasn’t promised me further seasons. I have no commitment from him. We still talk about making more seasons of Louie with some regularity … We also had a conversation, maybe this is a show you’ll do periodically for the rest of your life. It could be one of those odd TV shows that has 15 seasons over 40 years. I don’t know what it might be.

In the meantime, Louis C.K. keeps busy producing FX’s Baskets, as well as Louie partner Pamela Adlon’s upcoming Better Things, not to mention his own stand-up. Asked about the ongoing hiatus, the comedian offered of Louie’s return:

I don’t know. I just don’t know. I don’t know. I think about it sometimes and I just don’t know … Louie was going by really fast, it felt like. It did occur to me to let people go back and watch it and let it soak in for a while. I did seven standup specials in seven years and five seasons of TV. That’s a lot of me. It did feel like good farming to let the soil have a couple of winters to freeze and thaw. It will be better for me creatively. I also don’t want people to get sick of me. […]

I just leave it open in my head. I want it to begin with I really want to do it. When you start with the premise that ‘I have another season to write,’ that’s not a great source. To me, now that there is no show essentially, if I have an idea that’s burning and feels right for that, then it will start from the idea. I don’t know when that will happen. It may not. It was such a great job, I’m likely to try it again at some point.

C.K. previously took between 2012 and 2014 to deliver the super-sized Louie Season 4, while a reduced order for Louie Season 5 helped deliver the most recent run. Might Louis find Louie again a few years down the line? Has the FX dramedy said all it has to say?

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