10 TV Shows With the Worst Series Finales of All Time
We certainly don’t envy TV writers tasked with bringing shows to an ending both surprising and inevitable — as the adage goes — or at least satisfactory to fans.
But we’re having a hard time forgiving the show-ending sins on display below: misplaced fan service, dangling plot threads, implausible twists, anticlimactic reveals, and behind-the-scenes pettiness.
Finale season is just around the corner, and in preparation, showrunners should use these shows (Game of Thrones, Dexter, Lost, and more) as a model for what not to do when ending a series. Scroll down for — big ol’ spoiler warning — our selections for the worst-ever series finales.
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead Universe was overrun by spinoffs and planned projects by the time the original show ended, and because of those announcements, fans knew that many of the core characters — Daryl (Norman Reedus), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira) — would survive to go on to lead other series. AMC was so intent on hyping up the franchise’s future that they forgot to keep up the life-or-death stakes.
The Sopranos
That infamous cut-to-black in the middle of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” may have been ballsy at the time, but in retrospect, that abrupt ending is just frustrating. We’ll never know who came in through the front door of the diner as Tony (James Gandolfini) and his family had dinner, and maybe that uncertainty was the point, but the writers shouldn’t have needed a gimmick to depict the danger the Sopranos were in.
Two and a Half Men
Instead of focusing on a satisfying conclusion for the characters that remained, Two and a Half Menproducer Chuck Lorre used the show’s finale to get revenge on a body-doubled Charlie Harper — and former sitcom lead Charlie Sheen, by proxy — by dropping a piano on his head and appearing on screen to say he was the “winning” one. It was just a childish grudge match, and we begrudge it all.
Lost
The castaway drama “lost” much of its fervent audience in its latter seasons as the island’s mysteries piled on, the mythology grew more mystical, and flashbacks became flash-forwards and then “flash-sideways.” And the polarizing finale — emotional though it was — answered so few of the questions that a 12-minute epilogue on the DVD set had to tie up loose ends.
Dexter
The revival series Dexter: New Blood course-corrected its predecessor’s series finale, in which Michael C. Hall’s Miami-based vigilante serial killer mourned the sudden death of his sister and then vanished in a hurricane, only to pop up as a lumberjack living a lonely life on the other side of the country. Perhaps that coda was meant to be a poetic punishment for the character, but it felt like a cop-out.
Quantum Leap
Fans of the original Quantum Leap probably would have preferred no closure at all to a tacked-on title card both depressing — viewers learn that Scott Bakula’s Sam Beckett never returned home — and misspelled — the title card says “Sam Becket” never returned home. This was one quantum leap that didn’t stick its quantum landing.
How I Met Your Mother
Think Cristin Miloti’s Tracy was the mother of this sitcom’s title? Sure, but she’s been dead all along, and Ted (Josh Radnor) went back to Robin (Cobie Smulders), who had broken up with an embittered Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), as this sitcom’s ending revealed. Much to the dismay of fans, the How I Met Your Mother finale ditched out so much of the characterization the show had crafted in service of some eleventh-hour shocks.
Star Trek: Enterprise
How better to end a Star Trek show than with a finale focusing on two characters from a different Star Trek show? Unfortunately, The Next Generation’s William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) dominated the Enterprise finale’s story. Capt. Jonathan Archer — played by Scott Bakula, a veteran of bad series finales — and his crew deserved better, which co-creator Brannon Braga admitted more than a decade later.
Gossip Girl
If you’re gonna have a series-long mystery — in this case, the identity of the blogger outing Upper East Siders’ secrets — then you’d better have an answer in mind from the start. Instead, this finale revealed in ret-conning fashion that Dan (Penn Badgley) was Gossip Girl, hand-waving over all the times Dan looked shocked by Gossip Girl blasts, even when he was alone and didn’t need to keep up pretenses.
Game of Thrones
The plastic water bottle visible on screen in this series-ender was just emblematic of how rushed and sloppy the whole final season seemed. So many fan favorites got endings they didn’t deserve: Cersei’s (Lena Headey) death felt unceremonious, Dany’s (Emilia Clarke) downfall and Arya’s (Maisie Williams) departure felt uncharacteristic, and Bran’s (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) crowning was just perplexing, as if the writers chose the next leader of Westeros by lottery.
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PurpleTeepee
How could you do a list on worst series finales and not include "Seinfeld"? That was the most infamous one of all, that basically put the entire main cast (Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer) behind bars for doing nothing, and the courtroom was basically an excuse to bring back the beloved iconic one-shot characters (Bubble Boy, the Low Talker, Mr. Steinbrenner, the Virgin, the Soup Nazi, etc.).
OliveBox
Totally agree it was so stupid
David G
I know Lost was something different to every viewer.I personally liked the ending.I think anyone who wanted all the mysteries of that show wrapped up in a little bow misunderstood the show.It was a fairy tale,a modern take on one any way.
GoldButterfly
Personally I was a little upset “ The Walking Dead” made it on here but I do agree with how they announced the spin offs way too early but I don’t know how that makes the show have a bad ending like I thought it was amazing and all my friends say the same thing but this is just my opinion and my parents who have watched both “Lost” and “Game Of Thrones” still get mad about the ending today they always talk to me about it.
GreenSeahorse
Most of these are entirely deserving. Except for the finale of The Sopranos. Based on the text, it seems like the author missed the point entirely. It's not about keeping the audience guessing or "who did it?" Or anything like that. It's indicative of Tony's mental state and the consequences of the life he's chosen. For now, he's won. But anyone could come through that door at any time. Death could come at any moment. Will it be today? Probably not? Today, it's probably just Meadow. But some day, it will come. And Tony will always be looking over his shoulder, always afraid of it, of his own mortality, of his own powerlessness. It's the life he's chosen. And i directly, it's the person he's chosen to be, and that will follow him forever. No matter how much money or power he amasses, nothing will save him from his existential dread. It's a pretty remarkable ending that encapsulates everything we've learned and witnessed about Tony.
OliveBeer
I think the issue the viewers had with the Soprano's ending is something that comes up often. Viewers watch shows/go to the movies to "see" a directors vision. What they don't care for is using "their" own imagination as to what happened to a character because the director decided to not show/make clear what happened to that character. i get what you are saying in your comments but many viewers prefer for things to be spelled out in no uncertain terms. They want to see the final outcome, not make assumptions or guess at what may or may not have happened. It's a shame though because endings like this spoil the entire show for some viewers. The ending was not my bag but I realize a lot of directors aren't making shows/movies for the viewers but for themselves. Would it have been better to actually show the final outcome of the main character? Sure. Will directors continue to create endings like this in the future? Absolutely. It's the way things are now.
RobR
The "Lost" finale was everything I wanted it to be. I was both shaken and emotionally satisfied at the same time. I honestly don't care that the 47th mystery from Episode 84 or whatever was never resolved. The criticism is ridiculous in my opinion.
sorry not sorry
wheres Seinfeld?
Laurel Nevans
I always thought Ted was telling his kids about how he met their mother at her funeral. The fact that the mother was dead was foreshadowed throughout the series, and especially in its final act. However, it was Ted's lusting after "Aunt Robin" that made the finale bad imo. Especially after the final season was all about her marrying someone else. It would have been better had my prediction come through, and we were left with the bittersweet note that love can take a lifetime to find, and must be cherished, for it can easily be cut short. I would have rather seen it end with Ted leaving the funeral home carrying that yellow umbrella, rather than it ending with his return to Robin's window.The final message should have been even when it's cut short, love is always worth it. Instead, it was more like when you settle for second best, you always have a chance to go after what you really always wanted later.
GoldSubmarine
I never thought she could have been dead - the first lines of the show were "kids I'm going to tell you how I met your mother" with their response "are we being punished?" What a crass thing to say if the mother were dead.
Even then, how many episodes were about how Ted is "finally finally OVER Robin and we really mean it this time"?
GreenBone
I feel like Ted loved love and was a great person. He never would have had kids with Robyn they would have divorced . He found love and she died . And life has a way of coming full circle and because he always loved love he had another women who is amazing to share the next phase of life with . I thought it was beautiful 😍
GreenLobster
Supernatural should have been on the list Dean deserved better
Hear vIrTuE SiGnAl turn & find the worst
Still disgusted by not just the Final Season but Season 7 aka Season Fanfiction of GoT as well. They just urinated on that show and those characters, particularly Dany. Ugh. Whatever. And you didn't suck me in for that spinoff either, HBO.
OrangeFries
GoT became terrible as soon as they passed the point Martin had written the story to. It wasn't just the ending it was the entire last two seasons. Those inept writers at HBO thinking they could replicate his style was foolish and arrogant.
RedLobster
I gave up on "The Walking Dead" way before it ended, but so agree on "Game of Thrones" and "The Sopranos". Didn't watch the others. Someone added "Seinfeld" and that was another bad ending.
GoldButterfly
I feel it could have taken walking dead’s spot on here
Michael P Powers
St. Elsewhere was a marvelously written and directed series with a fine cast. The finale was a huge insult to all of we fans.
trapgame99
You're incorrect about Two and a Half Men, Chuck Lorre dropped the piano on himself as the finale word which btw means they both lost out! Obviously whoever wrote this didn't even actually watch the finales.
CyanScissors
That is what you get when you make a tv series based on a book series that is half finished and will never BE finished.
GreenBone
HIMYM was a great ending ! It made sense since the whole show was about how he loved Robyn before he met his wife
Loved it
All other shows agreed ! Thank god Dexter came back and finished it off properly
GreenToast
I hated the ending of Scorpion and of Saving Hope.
PurpleMustache
Some of the endings were rushed because the shows had been cancelled, Quantum leap, Enterprise,
RedQuill
Dinosaur the kids TV show should be on here. The way they ended it I'm sure was very traumatic to kids.
RedCarrot
There will never be a series finale worse than Castle's
OrangeRaindrop
Poor Enterprise
CyanController
How could you people leave out SOUTHLAND? Perhaps the best & most realistic cop show ever!!! I was totally bummed when it was cancelled & not picked up by any other network yet trashy shows (and there are many) continue to go on & on! SOUTHLAND was classic & totally worth watching. If you didn’t watch it then you missed out on a lot!
PurpleLeaf
I thought the final leap on quantum leap was actually great.
RedCupcake
same
OliveCone
The LEAP was great, the title card ending was not.
Jena
For me, Enterprise had other issues. The whole "attack on Earth" storyline was a total joke, for various reasons. I really wanted to like the show, and basically I did, some of the characters were really good, but the writers ruined things, even before the finale.
CosmicMate
Lost had the perfect ending. It was beautiful and very satisfying. Every question that mattered was answered. The series is a masterpiece, still the king of serialized television.
BlueLocomotive
Sons of Anarchy ending belongs on this list.
RedCloud
Add the remake of Battlestar Galactica