Merlin‘s Bradley James has given an interview about his feelings regarding the series ending and whether he’d be up for doing a Merlin movie down the road.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Bradley James reveals that he is satisfied with the way the series concludes. “The surprises will continue,” he previews (or warns), but “I’m happy with it.”

He also confirms our suspicions that he has known that the end was coming for a while, saying, “I’ve known that for quite a while, largely because of my own knowledge that I felt that I didn’t want to go on past series five.” He adds that, “I guess the makers of the show have decided that they don’t want to do it with a new cast.”

James reasons that the cast has always been expecting the series to last for five years, and it was important to go out on “a high note,” which he believes that they have done. “We could’ve stayed on and made a series six and made lots of money,” he says, “but it wouldn’t have been right. I don’t think that’s what you need to be aiming to do in life – you need to be creating good things that entertain people and I’m not sure series six would’ve done that.”

He won’t completely rule out returning for a movie – “but it would have to be for the right reasons.”

In the interview, James also goes into his thoughts on some series 5 developments. On Gwen’s manipulation, he muses, “I think they’ve always given Guinevere a get-out-of-jail clause actually. I’m not sure that they couldn’t have gone further with that one.”

In his opinion, having Gwen truly turn to the dark side, “would’ve been far more interesting, I think. But I guess you can’t really dedicate an entire series to that,” he admits, “and [Gwen genuinely turning] would probably take longer than the three episodes they put aside for that storyline.”

What do you think about all these surprises the cast members are talking about? As part of Hypable’s Month of Merlin, we will be putting together a list of the best finale theories – be sure to submit your own!