GEORGE CLOONEY - ER BOSSES HOPING FOR CLOONEY RETURN FOR FINAL SEASON

The executive producers of ER are hoping to tempt George Clooney and other former cast members back for the show's final season.

After 15 years of the medical drama, the Chicago-set show is nearing its climax and has the Hollywood writers' strike to thank for being given one final fling.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the show was renewed by NBC after the Writers' Guild of America's (WGA) industrial action prevented the development of any new series.

And as they plan the end to the long-running emergency room saga, executive producers John Wells and David Zabel are planning to tempt some fan favourites into returning to the corridors of County General.

"We want to revisit characters that have existed on the show over the years and say where they are now," Zabel said of Clooney and Julianna Margulies, who played the Ocean's 11 star's love interest Carol.

"We'd love to get them all back in some way, but that doesn't mean we're going to. But we're going to try."

However, Zabel confirmed that Noah Wyle (Dr Carter) is to return for four episodes while Goran Visnjic is likely to reappear as Dr Kovac.

"The toughest will be getting Tony Edwards [Dr Greene] because his character is dead," Zabel added.

"That's a little tricky, but there are ways to do it that we've thought about. Even if it were like a lost episode from 1996 featuring him and Wyle."

A five-time Emmy winner, ER has also won a Golden Globe - for Anthony Edwards in 1998 - and took the prize for best performance by a cast in a drama series for four consecutive years at the Screen Actors Guild awards.