The eighth and final season of Desperate Housewives, a television series created by Marc Cherry, began broadcasting in the United States on September 25, 2011, and concluded on May 13, 2012.

[6] The deceased character Mary Alice Young continues to narrate the events in the lives of her Wisteria Lane residents Susan Delfino, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp, Gabrielle Solis, and Renee Perry.

I just wanted to make sure that this show that put this network on the map ... had its victory lap, had a chance to really set out every episode and build an arc [in its final season.]

[13] Lead actresses Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, and Eva Longoria signed on for an eighth season in April 2011, with each earning a reported salary of $325,000 per episode.

[16] On August 7, ABC president Paul Lee confirmed that the eighth season would be the show's last at the Television Critics Association media press tour.

The series is narrated by Brenda Strong, who portrays the deceased Mary Alice Young, as she observes from beyond the grave the lives of the Wisteria Lane residents and her former best friends.

After making some guest appearances towards the end of the previous season, Jonathan Cake was made series regular in the role of Chuck Vance, a detective and Bree's love interest.

Also starring were Charlie Carver, Joshua Logan Moore and Darcy Rose Byrnes respectively as Porter, Parker and Penny Scavo, Lynette's children, as well as child actor Mason Vale Cotton portraying M.J. Delfino, Susan's son.

[29] Orson Bean portrayed Roy Bender, Mrs. McCluskey's husband, while Christine Estabrook reappeared in the series finale in a flashback as Martha Huber, the woman that blackmailed Mary Alice.

[32] In addition to Strong's, Denton's, Joosten's, Culp's, Estabrook's, Cake's and Ontiveros's characters (all of whom made previous appearances in the season), among the returning ghosts were Roger Bart as George Williams, Justine Bateman as Ellie Leonard, Emily Bergl as Beth Young, Richard Burgi as Karl Mayer, Maria Cominis as Mona Clarke, Ellen Geer as Lillian Simms, Valerie Mahaffey as Alma Hodge, David Starzyk as Bradley Scott, and Kiersten Warren as Nora Huntington.