Teri Hatcher is planning to quit her role on Desperate Housewives?

According to Britain’s Mail on Sunday newspaper, the 45-year-old actress –  who has played ditsy mother Susan Mayer for seven years — has told colleagues at ABC that the next season will be her last.

Felicity Huffman is also believed to be following Hatcher out of the show.

“Teri has given in her notice and is making active preparations to move on,” said one insider.

“She has another production deal in the pipeline and she is in the early stages of developing a sitcom that she wants to start work on immediately after she finishes Desperate Housewives — she wants a new show in time for the mid-January pilot season.”

Sources say bosses are keen to keep the hit show running for at least two more seasons,  but the show won’t work without Hatcher, so the next season will be the last.

“ABC hasn’t announced its schedule yet because the future of the series is up in the air,” said the source.

“Some of the crew are disappointed in Teri, they feel like she is abandoning the show that revived her career.

“Desperate Housewives can’t really continue without Teri or Felicity because they need the original stars to pull in the ratings.

“Teri has been inspired by the success of people like Courteney Cox, who walked away from Friends and bagged her own prime-time show, Cougar Town.

“She says she had an amazing run on the show but feels it is time to move on to a project that she has more control over.”

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