Fans will have to wait until early next year to experience what may very well be "Person of Interest’s" final season. However, judging by the excitement of the cast and producers, it will certainly be a season to remember, no matter what.

Showrunner Greg Plageman, producer Chris Fisher and stars Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson, Kevin Chapman, Sarah Shahi and Amy Acker met with journalists at New York Comic Con to discuss the upcoming fifth season of CBS’s sci-fi crime drama.

Season 4 saw the destruction of Finch's advanced surveillance system, known as “The Machine,” the rise of the evil machine Samaritan, the evolving romantic relationship between Shaw and Root, the disappearance and last-second reemergence of Shaw, and the evolution of Finch and Reese as true heroes.

"It's going to be a great season," Fisher promised. "It's going to be the most dramatic and most intense season we've ever had. If we told you what would happen, you're number would be up."

In response to the season’s reduced 13-episode order, Chapman, who plays Detective Fusco, said," I don't think our pacing has been affected, we've maintained momentum. The writing has gone to a new level."

Fisher, who’s directed more than a dozen episodes of "Person of Interest," was eager to discuss the look of the series. "We have our own visual language,” he said. “We have to earn our visual language through story. We don’t just throw in quick-fire jump-cuts; we wait till we have the action to justify that kind of camera work.”

Chapman noted that while Season 4 ended on a dark note, it won’t prevent Fusco from finding levity in any situation. "Fusco's humor comes from my personality, just me being a clown,” he said. “But it's always great to play a character with a sense of duality. It's always nice to play it a little on the dark side."

 

As for series protagonist Reese, "The Machine is the life line," Caviezel said. "Reese's job has to get Finch to believe in the cause again. It's all about assembling the team and getting Shaw back."

Plageman promised some revelations about Finch's past, specifically “when he made the decisions that led to the rise of the Machine." As for Reese, Plageman said it's up to Finch's friend "to pick Finch up. It's about when a friend can pick up another friend."

He also teased an early highlight to the upcoming season. "There's a scene in the premiere when Finch and Reese meet up again, which I love,” Plageman said. “It's very bittersweet but a lot of fun, almost straight action."

He spent a bit of time discussing the impact of the new series villain, Samaritan as well. "We've seen Samaritan mess with elections, fooling around with the food supply,” he said. “It's almost insidious."

As for what makes "Person of Interest" unique, Plageman said, "We try to keep it grounded, and I think it's working because we have at least three shows ripping us off this fall."

The biggest moment of last season was the imagined return of Taraji P. Henson's Detective Carter in a surreal episode in which Reese realized just how much he lost when she died.

"The lesson learned is that many times we don't tell the people that we love how much we love them until they're gone,” Caviezel said. “What drives Reese is to make up for that through reparation by saving as many lives as he can."

Plageman promised Reese and Finch's bond will be a central theme of the new season because, as Caviezel so succinctly put it, "A machine can't teach you how to love."

Plageman agreed, and joked that the show's legacy would be realized when "Samaritan makes Donald Trump president. Then people will realize exactly what has happened."

Turning serious, he revealed his proudest achievement was creating "a truly serialized drama.” “A lot of people disregard TV because they think it's all stand-alone,” he said. “You really can't do that with our show. The last guy who tried doing it really, really well was Aaron Sorkin, and it almost killed him."

The idea that this could be the final season permeated the room, but Caviezel said he’s proud of what the series has accomplished: "We have done things that no one else has done."

Mr. Finch himself, Emerson, added, "I'm not sure how these decisions get made. It's entirely possible that this is the last 13 episodes on CBS, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that it could go to another broadcaster. … But I'm not sure who would take it; it's a very expensive show."

 

As is the case with “Person of Interest,” the fate of Finch and his Machine is up in the air. "He's in full improvise mode," Emerson said. "Samaritan is in charge and they have to go deeper undercover to reboot the Machine."

Finch is noted for never a using a weapon, but Emerson teased, "As the threats around them get more dire and terrifying, Mr. Finch might have to take a different stance on certain ethical positions."

From "Lost" to "Person of Interest," Emerson is no stranger to popular genre series, and neither is his co-star Amy Acker. A veteran of "Angel" and "Dollhouse,” Acker will reprise her role as Root in the upcoming season. "I really love being part of all this," she said. "I had no idea this where it was going to go. The writers that we have … they got this great group of people together the way Joss Whedon did."

Acker's character is at a crossroads going into Season 5, as she’s torn between fighting Samaritan and saving Shaw. "I kind of feel that at the end of Season 4, when we had to make a decision what was next, if the Machine isn't back up and running there is no hope in finding Shaw."

It’s been a long time since "Person of Interest" fans have seen Shaw, who was taken by Samaritan's agents midway through last season. But Shahi's character is poised for a comeback, an event the actress is very excited about "When we last saw Shaw, it's been almost a year,” she said. “She hopes the others are looking for her … but she's under Samaritan's control. Her introduction this year is very big and dynamic and her reintroduction will answer a lot of questions."

As eager as Shahi is for Shaw's return, the "L Word" veteran is most excited about further exploring the blossoming romantic connection between the two brilliant women of "Person of Interest." "It's impossible to not talk about Root when talking about my character," Shahi said. "It kind of seems to be the thing I keep talking about. When I was on the 'The L Word,' I didn’t realize how impactful that was to the lesbian audience. I got letters telling me how important my character was to help people come out. People thought about killing themselves, they watched the show and now they had faith in themselves. When I left 'The L Word,' I thought that all ended, until Shaw and Root. And I am proud to give something new for the LGBT audience to get strength from."

"Person of Interest" will return at midseason on CBS.