Line #43 Main/FinaleSeason


1	Some series get [[{{cancellation}} cancelled]] and CutShort. Other series last far longer than any fan had wanted and become a FranchiseZombie. But some series decide to end the show on their own terms, long before the network decides to cancel them and before the fans begin to tire of them.
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3	This is not simply the last season of a series or a celebration of a series that ends before it can become a FranchiseZombie. The defining characteristic of the Final Season is that it is a planned final season and is announced as such from the very beginning. The Final Season will work to tie up any loose ends and answer any unanswered questions. During the Final Season, the writers may feel the freedom to tackle themes and stories they would otherwise not attempt for risk of JumpingTheShark by upsetting the [[StatusQuoIsGod Status Quo]] so much. Think of it as a GrandFinale, but stretched across an entire season.
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5	This is an EndingTrope, so expect unmarked spoilers.
6	----
7	!!Examples:
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10	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
11	* ''Series/TwelveMonkeys'' ends with its fourth season, which ties up every loose end from the previous seasons, tying everything together into the overall StableTimeLoop, before setting the stage for the FinalBattle with [[BigBad the Witness]] and allowing the heroes to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn their happy endings]].
12	* Before its third season premiere, Netflix announced that the fourth season of ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' would be its last.
13	* ''Series/ThirtyRock''[='=]s seventh season had been announced as its last.
14	* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' concludes with its seventh being its Final Season, with each main character parting from the team and having their [[EarnYourHappyEnding own happy ending]].
15	* Not long after ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' was renewed for an eighth season, it was announced that it would be its final season.
16	* The last series of ''Series/{{Ashes to Ashes\|2008}}'' was explicitly made out to be the last in pre-broadcast trailers, and functioned as both the final series of ''Ashes To Ashes'' and an epilogue to ''Series/{{Life On Mars\|2006}}''.
17	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' made it all the way to Season 12, with the final season providing closure for a lot of characters' personal plotlines. [[spoiler:Including Zack's.]]
18	* The fifth season of ''Series/BreakingBad'' was announced as the final season--by the point it was renewed, the writers decided Walt's story needed to reach a definite end. So they'd have enough time to do so, they split the season into two eight episodes halves completed a year apart.
19	** Similarly, prior to the airing of the fifth season, the sixth season of the SpinOff ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' was announced as the final one. As such, the season finally completed Jimmy [=McGill=]'s transformation into Saul Goodman, saw him meeting Walter White from his point of view, and revealed his ultimate fate following the end of ''Breaking Bad''.
20	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' established pretty quickly that the seventh season's BigBad was the First Evil, a being manifested from all evil in existence, and the season was then spent on Buffy getting an army together to fight the First Evil when it finally entered the physical realm.
21	-->'''Creator/JossWhedon''' (7.01 DVD commentary): Anybody who didn't get that this is the last season after this scene was missing the point.
22	* The announcement of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'''s fifth season renewal was swiftly followed two days later by the announcement it would be the final season, after two seasons which received 13 episode renewals which were written as the GrandFinale before NBC ordered more episodes to extend the seasons, which subsequently ended on cliffhangers instead.
23	* The sixth season of ''Series/CobraKai'' was announced to be the final season, though the showrunners stated that other stories in the ''Franchise/TheKarateKid'' universe are still a possibility.
24	* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' was specifically designed to run for exactly four seasons, so the fourth (and final) one spends much of its time resolving character arcs and plot threads, i.e. Rebecca's unfinished business with Greg, who was {{put on a bus}} in season two.
25	* Season eight was announced as the final season of ''Series/DesperateHousewives''.
26	* The final season of ''Series/{{ER}}'' resolved several storylines, and brought back many members of the show's original cast.
27	* ''Series/TheFlash2014'' had its ninth season announced after every other Arrowverse show had been cancelled or announced as not being in the Arrowverse, making that not just the finale season of the Flash but of the entire Arrowverse.
28	* The fifth season of ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' was also planned as the finale from the start.
29	* The tenth season of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' was known to be the final season, so once the fallout of season 9 had been dealt with, the series immediately started building towards the GrandFinale & gave everyone closure. Except Joey, who not only ''didn't'' get an ending to his character arc, but also had absolutely no set-up for his [[Series/{{Joey}} spin-off series]].
30	* The fifth season of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' was announced as its final season.
31	* The fourth season of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' was announced in advance to be the show's last. Michael Schur mentioned that the creative team considered going beyond that, but decided not to "tread water."
32	* The final season of ''Series/HannahMontana'' is so special, they changed the name to Hannah Montana Forever. This season brings us a change of residence for Miley, a change in the romantic pairings, as well as Miley revealing her secret to the entire world.
33	* The ninth season of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' was the final season, and while the mother was first shown in the finale of the previous season, season 9 was all about Barney's wedding to Robin and the entire gang meeting the mother. Though never advertised as such, season 8 was also expected to possibly be the last season and so [[SeriesFauxnale was written as such before the season 9 renewal.]]
34	* The third season of ''{{Series/Jessica Jones\|2015}}'' was advertised as "The Final Season". The show had been cancelled along with the rest of the ''Series/{{The Defenders\|2017}}'' lineup, but unlike the others it happended early enough for the creators know about it going in. Thus they avoided adding [[SequelHook Sequel Hooks]] and the series ends with all loose ends more or less tied up.
35	* The final season of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' distinguished itself from the other seasons by attempting to answer the big questions concerning the island, instead of posing more. A new plot device was introduced revealing the existence of a possible alternate Universe. The characters found themselves involved in a massive centuries-old power struggle.
36	* After [[ChannelHop its move from Fox to Netflix]], ''Series/{{Lucifer\|2016}}'' secured a fourth season, with no mention of a followup until a month after it aired, when a fifth season was announced. It was initially reported to be the last and subsequently its ten-episode order was extended to sixteen, likely to anticipate the GrandFinale. But then the show managed to secure a ''sixth'' season, which was reported to be the "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment final final season]]", which by all accounts appears to have actually been the case.
37	* It was pretty much known from the beginning that season eight would be the final season of ''Series/MagnumPI''.
38	* All the commercials for the episodes of the last season of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' always had the tagline of it being the final season.
39	* For the final season of ''Series/MurphyBrown'', show creator Diane English returned and gave the show an almost complete overhaul. The biggest change was a season arc in which Murphy is diagnosed with cancer, thus giving the show more gravitas. Also, Miles Silverberg was written out and replaced by a new executive producer played by Lily Tomlin, and [[spoiler:Phil, who was killed off a few seasons back, was brought back, his death {{retconned}} as going into hiding because of all the secrets he knew about Washington.]]
40	* The fifteenth season of ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' was explicitly advertised as such, as well as being called so in the remaining episodes.
41	* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' was renewed for a fourth season which was also confirmed to be its final one.
42	* The ninth season of ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' has been announced and planned as the final season. It was even advertised with the words "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin farewell season]]". It is also the season where the ElephantInTheLivingRoom (the series being a documentary) is finally not only lampshaded, but also addressed and becomes a plot point.
43	* After ''Series/OneTreeHill'' was renewed for a ninth season, it was confirmed as the final season. Season 8 was also written as a Finale Season & wrapped up most of the character arcs over the season, but was never advertised as such, before a surprise renewal.
44	* The sixth and final season of ''Series/{{Oz}}'' marked the occasions by having past dead characters such as [[spoiler: Dino Ortilani, Antonio Nappa, the Schillinger brothers, Shirley Bellinger, Jefferson Keane and Eugene Dobbins]] return to co-narrate
45	* The final season of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' was planned as a final season and features all the cast in a different setting, three years after the events of the previous season.
46	* ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' was written as the final season of the show, but was so well received that the show continued for another season ([[LongRunner And continues to this day]]). It did more or less wrap up the "Zordon Era", ending with a battle royale featuring heroes and villains on different planets from the past five seasons.
47	* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'' was intended to be this by star and writer Steve Smith to prevent SeasonalRot. Its main focus was setting up the WeddingFinale between Harold and Bonnie while quietly resolving the stories of several background characters.
48	* For the final season of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' Roseanne won the lottery and had lots of OOC adventures; it turned out in the end to be all just a book she was writing to get over the fact that Dan had died of a heart attack.
49	* Season 9 of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' is an example of what happens when this isn't pulled off right. The writers and everyone else were sure Scrubs wouldn't be renewed, so the eighth season wrapped everything up nicely with a bow. And then they got renewed. Oops.
50	* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' put the words "The Final Season" above the title in the commercials for its tenth season. In fact, the "previously on" sequence at the beginning of the season premiere ends with Tom Welling's (Clark's actor) voice saying "And now, the final season of ''Smallville''".
51	* The last season of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' closed out the Dominion War arc with a bang, switching to a fully serialized format for the final ten episodes, showing massive space battles and finishing up every character's development and personal arcs.
52	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
53	** After a very long run, it was finally announced that season 15 would be the show's last.
54	** Season 5 was written to be the final season. Creator and first showrunner Eric Kripke had wanted to do a five-season run since the very beginning and wrote the lore around it, hence why the first five seasons have a single GreaterScopeVillain (Lucifer) whom every {{Big Bad}}s work towards. However, [[MoneyDearBoy the show was a big money maker]] for The CW, which decided to greenlight another season. Since Kripke left afterwards and his story was finished, the show ended up having to make things up as it went on, as the showrunners changed every few seasons and there was no singular vision.
55	* The Fifth season of ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' was announced as its last.
56	* ''Series/TheWire'' saw cameos for nearly living character that had previously been PutOnABus as well as the resolution of numerous story arcs and fairly definitive endings for numerous lead characters with things more or less coming full circle in the finale.
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59	[[folder:Web Original]]
60	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' had its nineteenth season, ''Restoration'', marked as the final season in its initial trailer.
61	* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire''[='=]s seventh season is specifically advertised as the last season. Then it cot UnCanceled a few years later.
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64	[[folder:Western Animation]]
65	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' was planned as a three-season series from the start, though they briefly tossed around the idea of fourth season that would act as an epilogue. Book 3 was announced from the start as being their Finale Season, with the characters traveling across the country of the BigBad in order to take the fight to the villain, the story arcs for several characters getting wrapped up, and many bits of foreshadowing finally getting paid off. There's only one significant question left unanswered (the whereabouts of Zuko's mother), which would get addressed in [[Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch a follow-up comic]].
66	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' was always planned as a three-part series according to its creator, Creator/MattBraly.
67	* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'''s sixth season was announced as its last shortly before the release of its first half. During the season, we see Bojack finally conquer his demons and find himself on good-standing with all his friends... only to lose everything and end up in a worse spot than he has ever been before, thanks to the consequences of events from earlier in the show coming back with a vengeance. However, the series as a whole would still manage to end on a bittersweet HopeSpot that he could achieve that happiness again.
68	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has Book 4, "Balance", advertised as the final season, and living up to it with [[spoiler:both the world and Korra in a broken, chaotic state after the events of the previous season, featuring both a villain presented as an EvilCounterpart to Korra with an extremely powerful new weapon, and the culmination of Korra's character development.]]
69	* ''WesternAnimation/MastersOfTheUniverseRevelation'' was envisioned as the final season and the ending to the original ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse''.
70	* The ninth season of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' was announced as its last. As such the major plot arc is the princesses of Equestria moving towards retirement, leaving Twilight Sparkle and her friends as the ruling council of the land by the end, and dealing with a BigBadEnsemble of villains from previous seasons.
71	* The last season of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' has the setting moved into space (literally; the whole previous season led up to the park being moved into space), and follows a previously hinted-at StoryArc about Pops' role as TheChosenOne preventing [[ApocalypseHow the end of the universe]].
72	* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'''s [[SamuraiJack/TropesSeason5 fifth season]] {{revival}} was specifically produced as a definitive conclusion to the series' overall conflict and storyline, [[{{Uncanceled}} after it was previously left unresolved when the show was canceled at its fourth season more than a dozen years before]].
73	* The second season of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'' was advertised as the last one, as it was set between the events of ''Film/TheLastJedi'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', as well as the approaching release of the latter film meaning the end of the Sequel Trilogy-era stories in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise for the time being.
74	* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'''s fourth season was announced to be its last. The season dealt with the fallout from the previous season's finale that had [[spoiler:Star give up the throne to Eclipsa]], resolved the "mewmans vs. monsters" racism plot, and concluded the long-standing romance subplot.
75	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'' is marketed as the epilogue season to ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', taking place a little after they've defeated the final villain and dealing with most of the lingering subplots. It also finally seeks to explore Steven as he processes everything that's happened to him since he first started fighting along the Gems.
76	* The first four seasons of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' were {{Half Arc Season}}s focusing on a specific member of the team. The final season ([[PostScriptSeason which came after a surprise renewal]]) focused on Beast Boy, but also shifted the format to be about a large number of teenage superheroes and villains, establishing an international Teen Titan network. The very last episode, "Things Change", also (sort of) resolves Terra's arc from the second season.
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Context Main / FinaleSeason