Barry Williams Thought “The Brady Bunch ”Would Be Renewed in 1974. Then It Was Just ‘Gone,’ Says Christopher Knight (Exclusive)

• Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen portrayed four of the six Brady siblings, alongside Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb

• The four spoke with PEOPLE at The Chocolate Expo at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sunday, May 4, about The Brady Bunch‘s lasting legacy

• The onscreen siblings told PEOPLE about how they found out their time together had ended

The Brady Bunch cast had no idea what awaited them when their five-year contract was up.

Speaking with PEOPLE at The Chocolate Expo at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., costars Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen looked back at the end of the show’s five-year run.

Asked about whether they kept any items from the set that reminded them of their characters, Knight explained they didn’t touch anything because, “We didn’t know whether we were picked up.”

“We didn’t know when we broke out,” Williams agreed, explaining, “So when your season ends, you don’t know if you’re coming back. So you could take stuff, but you’re taking stuff that’s theirs.”

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Looking back at filming their final season in 1974, Knight, 67, asked his fellow castmates, “Do you guys remember finding out? Because I think we just went on hiatus. Probably not expecting to come back or did we know we were …”

“I thought we were coming back for sure,” Williams, 70, replied.

“I had the feelings that we wouldn’t be coming back. And I was hoping that we wouldn’t,” Olsen, 63, said.

Williams explained, “We all were under five-year contracts. So the five years had run. For there to be another season, there would’ve had to be in new negotiations.”

“And we would’ve had to be paid,” Olsen added.

“We stopped shooting in February. They would’ve had to start up again in June. There’s a little window in there to do some negotiations. So I think we broke thinking maybe we would know rather quickly if we’re picked up or not because they’d have to start negotiations,” Williams recalled.

“It was probably a month or two when we probably found out that we weren’t being picked up. And so you’re not even around one another, it just … It’s gone. It dissipates. There’s no real, formal exit or time to feel.”

Following the show’s conclusion, the cast had many wonderful opportunities to reunite, from spin-off series to live performances and special events with fans.

Knight said, “It just seems like there’s always a cycle of four or five years where something’s bringing us back together. I mean we’re talking about three different states amongst the world, so we’re a little spread out now. We don’t run into one another until something brings us together. But like family, it’s never enough time together when we do.”

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