Season 8

This article contains episode summaries for the eighth (and final) season of Desperate Housewives.

Season Summary
In the U.S., original episodes of season eight started airing on September 25, 2011, and finished the original broacast with a 2-hour season finale (consisting of episodes 22 and 23) airing on May 13, 2012.

Starring

 * Teri Hatcher - Susan Delfino (23/23)
 * Felicity Huffman - Lynette Scavo (23/23)
 * Marcia Cross - Bree Van de Kamp (23/23)
 * Eva Longoria - Gabrielle Solis (23/23)
 * Vanessa Williams - Renee Perry (23/23)
 * Ricardo Antonio Chavira - Carlos Solis (18/23)
 * Doug Savant - Tom Scavo (18/23)
 * Jonathan Cake - Chuck Vance (8/23)* **
 * Charles Mesure - Ben Faulkner (15/23)* ***
 * Madison De La Garza - Juanita Solis (12/23)* ****
 * with Brenda Strong - Mary Alice Young (23/23)
 * and James Denton - Mike Delfino (16/23)

* Credited only in the episodes in which they appear.

** Credited under "starring" through "Putting It Together", and makes uncredited cameo in "Finishing the Hat".

*** Credited under "also starring" before "Who Can Say What's True?".

**** Credited in two episodes from which she's absent.

Also Starring

 * Kathryn Joosten - Karen McCluskey (10/23)*
 * Tuc Watkins - Bob Hunter (6/23)* **
 * Kevin Rahm - Lee McDermott (8/23)* **
 * Charlie Carver - Porter Scavo (4/23)* ***
 * Joshua Logan Moore - Parker Scavo (6/23)*
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes - Penny Scavo (14/23)*
 * Mason Vale Cotton - MJ Delfino (8/23)* **** *****

* Credited only in the episodes in which they appear.

** Credits can switch.

*** Also seen in archive footage in "Give Me the Blame", accounting for a 5th appearance.

**** Not credited in "School of Hard Knocks".

***** Also seen in archive footage in "You Take for Granted" and "Give Me the Blame", accounting for 10 appearances.

Recurring Guest Stars

 * Andrea Parker - Jane Carlson (11/23)
 * Daniella Baltodano - Celia Solis (10/23)
 * Andrea Bowen - Julie Mayer (7/23)*
 * Michael Dempsey - Detective Murphy (6/23)
 * Scott Bakula - Trip Weston (5/23)
 * Orson Bean - Roy Bender (5/23)
 * Miguel Ferrer - Andre Zeller (5/23)
 * Sal Landi - Donny (5/23)
 * Kyle MacLachlan - Orson Hodge (3/23)
 * Max Carver - Preston Scavo (2/23)**
 * Steven Culp - Rex Van de Kamp (2/23)****
 * Dakin Matthews - Reverend Sikes (2/23)
 * Lupe Ontiveros - Juanita "Mama" Solis (2/23)****
 * Tony Plana - Alejandro Perez (2/23)***
 * Roger Bart - George Williams (1/23)****
 * Justine Bateman - Ellie Leonard (1/23)****
 * Emily Bergl - Beth Young (1/23)****
 * Richard Burgi - Karl Mayer (1/23)****
 * Christine Clayburg - Anchor Woman (1/23)
 * Maria Cominis - Mona Clarke (1/23)****
 * Joy Lauren - Danielle Van de Kamp (1/23)
 * Valerie Mahaffey - Alma Hodge (1/23)****
 * Mark Moses - Paul Young (1/23)
 * Shawn Pyfrom - Andrew Van de Kamp (1/23)
 * John Rubinstein - Principal Hobson (1/23)
 * Kiersten Warren - Nora Huntington (1/23)****

* Also seen in archive footage in "You Take for Granted", accounting for an 8th appearance.

** Also seen in archive footage in "Give Me the Blame", accounting for a 3rd appearance.

*** Also seen in archive footage in "Finishing the Hat", accounting for a 3rd appearance.

**** Not credited in "Finishing the Hat".

Overview
Carlos' murder of his wife Gabrielle's evil stepfather and the cover-up by the housewives has far-reaching effects, as feelings of guilt begin to overcome everyone in different ways. Gabrielle works to reach out to Carlos while his guilt weighs heavily upon him, and Susan starts to withdraw from her friends and family. As Lynette and Tom are grappling with their disintegrating marriage and impending separation, the former is having trouble making the right choices ever since she participated in the cover-up. And Bree must be especially careful around her new romantic interest, detective Chuck Vance. Meanwhile, a handsome new neighbor, Ben Faulkner, moves to town, and he's Renee's first order of business.

Main Plot Points

 * The women and Carlos all cover up the murder of Alejandro, in which ultimately more people become involved, and the guilt and fear of being caught eats away at them.
 * Bree takes charge in the cover-up, and her world falls apart as she is shunned by her friends and later becomes the target of a police investigation.
 * Gabrielle does her best to shake off the scandalous events regarding the cover-up, and she and Carlos later undergo big changes in their lives when he decides to help the needy.
 * Lynette and Tom undergo a separation, and the former tries to get her life on track without her husband.
 * Renee meets and falls for the hunky new neighbor, Australian Ben Faulkner.
 * Susan is consumed by guilt over the cover-up, goes back to art school, loses Mike and becomes a grandmother.
 * Karen discovers her cancer has returned.

Production
Marc Cherry announced the possibility of there being an 8th of Desperate Housewives. He had stated that if he could get all four lead actresses to renew their contracts for an extra 2 seasons, ABC would allow them two more seasons. However, it was announced on August 7th that the eighth season would be the last, as decided by both Cherry and ABC head Paul Lee.
 * Lead actresses Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Marcia Cross had signed on for a two year deal with earnings of $325,000 - $400,000 for each episode in season 8.
 * Executive producer Bob Daily is the showrunner for season 8. However, Cherry is still an executive producer, along with Sabrina Wind, Marco Pennette, Matt Berry, David Grossman, George W. Perkins and Jeff Greenstein. The show is still being produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Sheila Lawrence is a co-executive producer, P. Erik Carlson is a production designer, and other producers include Charles Skouras III, Annie Weisman, consulting producer Dave Flebotte, and supervising producer Stephanie Hagen. Jason Ganzel, Wendy Mericle and Brian Tanen are the executive story editors.
 * Steve Jablonsky is still the music composer in season 8.