The future of Bones is still up in the air, but Fox hopes to come to a decision very soon, the network announced at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Friday.

“We don’t want this show limping to an ending,” Fox co-chairman and CEO Dana Walden said of the show at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California on Friday. “We want to send it out with style and class and the way it wants to be wrapped up … I don’t believe any of the practical elements of the production have been delayed. We hope to announce it soon.”

Walden said the network hasn’t “made a decision” yet about just when the show would end, but promised to give producers “plenty of time to write a meaningful ending.”

“Those viewers deserve a very satisfying ending,” she said. “We’re trying to be very sensitive about that.”

The news comes on the heels of stars Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz and executive producers Barry Josephson and Kathleen Reichs claiming Fox allegedly shortchanged them out of profits from the show.

While Walden said the legal matter has not yet been resolved, she noted it “has no impact on our decision-making.”

Legal issues aside, the Fox bosses believe that there is still life in the show. “That’s something we want to sit down and talk with the producers about to see how they feel about that,” said co-chairman and CEO Gay Newman. “They’re very clever producers. The characters are so rich that I think if everyone is interested in moving forward, they probably do have the stories to tell.”

In the meantime, Bones has been benched as a midseason return date has not yet been set. But one thing is for certain: the Fox bosses aren’t planning for the show to go on without the leading characters – unlike another very similar series.

“We wouldn’t do show without David and Emily,” Walden said. “So this is a conversation that would be continuing the series and announcing it as a final season in the 12th season or wrapping it in the 11th.”