Line #88 Main/StockSeriesFinales


1	When a television series isn't canceled abruptly, writers have time to wrap things up. There seem to be a pretty standard set of types of Series Finales to end on, provided the show's creators have time to plan it out in advance. Most of these can all be mixed together as one wishes. Occasionally, the series may then be UnCancelled, and the writers find themselves in a corner, leading the series into a PostScriptSeason.
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3	* Villain Death: The main antagonist dies, ideally, by being defeated by the good guy. This may just be the set up for the proper ending which may take on any of the below forms.
4	* [[BabiesEverAfter Birth]]: A long-running couple gives birth to their first child.
5	* [[BroughtDownToNormal Back to Normal]]: In a supernatural or superhero show, the main character is robbed of their supernatural abilities/technologies/friends and goes back to living a normal life (or, at the very least, tells their loved ones about their powers and decides to go on the run and try to live a normal life while keeping ther powers under wraps).
6	* {{Cliffhanger}}: The viewers are left hanging on what happened. Similar to the GainaxEnding or the AllJustADream ending, this ending isn't very popular with most fans (unless a more skilled writer knows how to work with it). Most of the time, it's used in series that get canceled thanks to ExecutiveMeddling rather than end because the creator planned on ending it, but there are cases where a cliffhanger is seen on a series that ended due to the creator wanting it to end it there rather than being ScrewedByTheNetwork (cf. ''The Amazing World of Gumball'') and usually, a finale movie, short-lived post-script season revival, or, at the very least, the creators themselves answering fan questions online or at a convention is used to tie up any and all loose ends and answer viewer questions.
7	* DistantFinale: The show flashes forward into the future to show what happened to the main characters. Can be used in conjunction with the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue (whether it's a montage within an episode or just a full episode or chapter)
8	* GainaxEnding: In the end, something happens... and nobody understands what the hell actually happened -- unless the viewer is really good at drawing conclusions and can piece together what happened, and even if a viewer can do that, there would still be loose ends and unanswered questions to plot holes and {{noodle incident}}s.
9	* [[GraduateFromTheStory Graduation]]: If the series centers on kids in school, expect this to be the final episode, especially if it's a high school series. If it's a live-action show with aging actors who would resemble graduating high school students by the end of production, then it's all the better. A series centered on college students rarely have this as an ending (as most college shows, whether or not they're spin-offs, don't last) but the graduation ending on college shows does exist.
10	* GrandFinale: FailureIsTheOnlyOption stops being in effect, and with failure suddenly ''not'' the only option, the series premise is finally resolved. Since Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this stock ending can be met with lots of fanfare as the characters we root for succeed.
11	* HereWeGoAgain: The series ends on a middle note, [[BookEnds referencing something from one of the earliest episodes]] and showing that [[StatusQuoIsGod Nothing Really Changed after all]].
12	* EverybodyDiesEnding: Everyone dies or gets killed ([[TheHeroDies main characters]], main antagonists, even side and one-shot characters). Can be used in conjunction with the trope LastEpisodeNewCharacter if one wants to set up a spin-off series.
13	** BolivianArmyEnding: Basically, the above mixed with {{Cliffhanger}}; a character is about to die, but it's left up in the air as to whether the character actually dies.
14	* LastMinuteHookup: The two WillTheyOrWontThey characters finally get together.
15	* Moving: The cast or the principal stars move away. This is usually the case in family sitcoms, and some that end this way are ClipShow episodes. May go hand in hand with a graduation ending as the high school students go their separate ways.
16	* StockSitcomGrandFinale
17	* [[RidingIntoTheSunset Walk Into the Sunset]] and AndTheAdventureContinues: The series ends with the characters going off on another adventure. This ending is the one ripe for fans to either write fanfiction about what happens after the series ends or fans to pester the creators into continuing the series with a spin-off or a reboot.
18	* WeddingFinale: The main couple or a pair of supporting characters are married off.
19	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Sometimes used in conjunction with other ending tropes (particularly the "Graduation" ending, the "Moving Out" ending, and the DistantFinale ending); what happens to the characters in the future is summarized either in a captioned statement, a montage (as seen with the endings to ''Regular Show'', ''Adventure Time'', and ''OK KO, Let's Be Heroes''), or a voiceover narration, usually on a person-by-person basis.
20	* The entire series is revealed to be AllJustADream (whether it's from the mind of someone dying, someone unconscious/in a coma, or from someone sleeping). Often, this is the bad writers' [[AssPull way out of a series]] or done to retcon anything considered FanonDiscontinuity. If you're a series writer, use caution and sufficient foreshadowing and [[FridgeBrilliance Fridge Brilliant]] (and/or [[FridgeHorror fridge horrific]]) call-backs before using this.
21	* FinalBattle: An action/adventure series usually ends with this. May be a precursor to any of the above.
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23	'''As you might expect, this is an ending trope. Expect unmarked spoilers.'''
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25	----
26	!!Examples:
27	[[AC:Villain Death]]
28	* To no one's surprise, Lord Voldemort died at the end of the last ''Literature/{{Harry Potter\|and the Deathly Hallows}}'' book and [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows film]].
29	* At the end of both ''[[Literature/TheOldKingdom Sabriel]]'' and ''Abhorsen,'' the SealedEvilInACan is sealed up once more, and the world is safe.
30	* By the end of ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' Naraku is indeed finally destroyed.
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32	[[AC: Back To Normal]]
33	* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' had a cure found for the Bang Babies in its finale. Fortunately, thanks to another exposure to the Bang Baby gas, Static keeps his powers, and even becomes stronger than ever.
34	* ''Series/TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'' also found a cure in its finale. [[spoiler:However, it's left up in the air if Alex actually takes it or not.]]
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36	[[AC:DistantFinale:]]
37	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' ended with a future screen.
38	** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' and ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' include glimpses of the future of their characters.
39	* After a lengthy battle that finally resolves the Human-Cylon war, the series finale of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}'' ends with a look at the fate of all the characters before jumping ahead several thousand years into the future.
40	* The ''Series/MadAboutYou'' finale jumps the show 20+ years into the future, presenting the Buchmans' now-adult daughter Mabel showing what became of her family and the rest of the characters.
41	* The infamous ending of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02''. In this ending, the cast is shown as adults, with each of them having kids and a nice job, along with their Digimon partners.
42	* The rather original finale to ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' is a flashback episode intercut with interviews with the kids as middle-aged adults (played by live action actors).
43	* The epilogue to the final ''Literature/{{Harry Potter\|and the Deathly Hallows}}'' book, which shows Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione being married couples who see their sons and daughters off at Kings Cross Station.
44	* ''Series/WillAndGrace''
45	* ''Series/SixFeetUnder'' ends with flash forwards to the eventual death of every still living character.
46	* ''Series/BabylonFive'' did at least two distant endings. One involved glimpses of humanity's future up to a million years ahead, then a more conventional version many episodes later, featuring the fate of the principal characters.
47	* ''Series/ChinaBeach'' has the surviving veterans reunite and visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C.
48	* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' ends with J.D. imagining one possible future for the group, complete with marriages, kids, and Christmases spent together.
49	--> ''JD'': And who's to say this isn't what happens? Who can tell me that my fantasies won't come true...just this once.
50	* ''Series/IZombie'' ends with the majority of the cast appearing on a virtual talk show ten years in the future, providing the interviewer with a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue for all the major characters and the status of the post-cure world as a whole.
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52	[[AC: FailureIsTheOnlyOption...Not]]
53	* ''Series/TheFugitive'': Richard Kimble finally confronts the One-Armed Man and manages to clear his name for the murder of his wife.
54	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': The USS Voyager finally made it home after 7 years of failed attempts.
55	* When they thought that ''Series/StargateSG1'' was ending, the producers wrote a story line that featured the final defeat of both the Replicators and the System Lords.
56	* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': The finale movie ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' has the Eds [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally be accepted by the rest of the neighborhood kids]] after a harrowing cross-country adventure (including a showdown with [[spoiler:Eddy's brother, who's revealed to be a BigBrotherBully who [[FreudianExcuse made Eddy the person he is today]]]].
57	* In the relatively obscure cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Dogstar}}'', The main characters are given the device that allows them to summon the missing titular ship that contains all the world's dogs that got lost after civilization migrated to a new planet after they destroyed Earth by pollution. Afterwards, the BigBad inadvertently destroys it, and they have to migrate back to the newly repaired Earth.
58	* Adrian Series/{{Monk}} finally solves his wife's murder at the end of the eighth season.
59	* ''Series/GoodTimes'' has the main characters finally having success at various endeavors they had been struggling with during the show's run.
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61	[[AC:Graduation]]
62	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' ended its PostScriptSeason with Kim and gang's graduation from high school.
63	* ''Series/SavedByTheBell''
64	* ''Series/HeadOfTheClass''
65	* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh''
66	* ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks''
67	* ''Manga/FruitsBasket''
68	* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' (Greg)
69	* ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' (Theo graduates from college)
70	* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi''
71	* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'': "Graduation On Deck" which ends both ''Zack and Cody'' and ''On Deck''.
72	* ''Series/TheSteveHarveyShow'': Romeo, Lydia, and Bullethead graduate from high school. This was originally supposed to be the final episode, but thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, it became the next-to-last episode. However, it is shown as the final episode in syndication.
73	* ''Manga/KOn''
74	* ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'': Although not shown onscreen in this episode, many references are made to Beaver graduating from eighth grade (i.e., entering high school in the fall) and Wally graduating from high school (and getting ready to enter college).
75	* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': TheMovie, ''Touchstone of Ra,'' took place during graduation and is at least assumed to be the finale, with all the students graduating from the AcademyOfAdventure.
76	* InUniverse on the show ''Sing it Loud!'' for ''Series/LivAndMaddie'', which ends with Liv's character Stephanie Einstein graduating.
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78	[[AC:Birth]]
79	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' also has the birth of OfficialCouple Tom and B'Elanna's first child, Miral Paris.
80	* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has Aeryn pregnant throughout the final season, although for a time in the Miniseries wrap up the baby is carried by Rygel. The baby is born in the miniseries (after making its way back to Aeryn).
81	* ''Series/{{Coupling}}''
82	* Chandler and Monica's adoptive children were born in the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' series finale.
83	* ''Series/{{Amen}}'' ended with the birth of Thelma and Reuben's son.
84	* Niles and Daphne's son is born in the final episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}''
85	* ''Series/MamasFamily'' ends with the birth of Tiffany Thelma Harper, Vint and Naomi's daughter.
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87	[[AC:Death]]
88	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' ends with most of the cast reuniting in a self-created afterlife, then exiting through a [[GoIntoTheLight glowing door]] together.
89	* ''Series/{{Preacher\|2016}}'' ends with almost the entire cast dying in the finale, either violently onscreen or (presumably) peacefully offscreen in a final {{Flashforward}}. The only members of the cast with ambiguous fates are [[EarnYourHappyEnding Eugene]] and [[KarmaHoudini Herr]] [[SparedByTheAdaptation Starr]].
90	* Every Creator/JossWhedon series generally kills off ''at least'' one major character in the finale.
91	* ''Series/RobinHood'' ended with its eponymous character dying and getting a TogetherInDeath scene with Marian.
92	* The Film/JamesBond films of Creator/DanielCraig end with Bond's death. Felix Leiter and Ernst Stavro Blofeld also die.
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94	[[AC:HereWeGoAgain]]
95	* ''Anime/DaiGuard'' ends with the characters (and presumably Japan) having accepted that the giant monsters, Heterodynes, are a natural disaster, akin to hurricanes and earthquakes, so will just continue doing their best to save lives. After taking out the biggest Heterodyne yet, of course.
96	* The final ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode finds Jerry and George having the exact same conversation that they were having at the beginning of the show's very first episode.
97	* The infamous ending to Stephen King's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, where (after a full page of the author urging the reader to stop right there because endings can never satisfy the buildup a story creates) Roland finally enters the Tower, only to find that it resets him back to where he started in [[Literature/TheGunslinger Book 1]] of the adventure (albeit with the implication he has a chance of getting it right this time).
98	* The animated series ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'' ends with BigBad Skull Master killing all the supporting characters, only to be defeated by Max at the end in a move which teleports Max all the way back to the first episode of the series (although, as he retains his full memories of the entire series, presumably he has a chance of doing better this time round).
99	* The canonical ending to the final episode of ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' is a scene that directly mirrors the first scene from the first episode of the series.
100	* The end of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' has Mike and the bots now on Earth and living in an apartment... where they now watch bad movies ''all on their own choice.'' The film in question they're watching at the end? ''Film/TheCrawlingEye'', the same film watched in the first official episode of the series.
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102	[[AC:Moving]]
103	* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' ended with Uncle Phil's family moving to a new house.
104	* ''Series/ICarly'' ended with Carly moving to Italy with her father.
105	* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' has the titular character leaving Seattle, ostensibly to take a job in San Francisco. In the final moments of the show, however, it's revealed he instead took a flight to Chicago to meet up with his love interest.
106	* ''Series/FraggleRock'' ends with Doc moving to the desert to accompany Ned Shimmelfinney (or, in the UK version, the lighthouse getting automated and B.J. becoming the caretaker of a castle), sad that he has to leave the Fraggles now that he's learned of their existence. [[spoiler:It turns out Fraggle Rock exists there too.]]
107	* In the last episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Chandler and Monica move to the suburbs, and it's mentioned that all of them have lived in that apartment at some point. (Phoebe was established as having shared it with Monica prior to the first episode; Ross gets a retcon that he stayed there for a while when his and Monica's grandmother still lived there.)
108	* The SeriesFauxnale of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has J.D. moving to a different hospital. (Then he moves back to Sacred Heart when it gets UnCanceled, only it's not the same Sacred Heart any more.)
109	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', whose producers knew they weren't getting a movie, has this happen to many of the characters following the FinalBattle -- Sisko [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence is taken up to join the Prophets]], Odo returns to the Great Link, O'Brien takes a teaching job at Starfleet Academy, Worf becomes the Federation ambassador to the Klingon homeworld, Garak remains on Cardassia after the war, and Rom goes off to become the Grand Nagus. Kira, Bashir, Ezri Dax, and Quark remain on the station.
110	* ''Series/BroadCity'' ends with Abbi moving to Colorado to focus on her art.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' ended with Twilight moving back to Canterlot and becoming the new ruler of Equestria.
112	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' ended with Dipper and Mabel going home to Piedmont, CA now that their summer vacation is over.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'' ends with Steven, having sorted out most of the emotional baggage he accumulated over the series, moving out of the Gem temple and heading off on a JourneyToFindOneself.
114	* ''Series/{{Community}}'' ends with Abed moving to California and Annie moving to Washington, D.C.
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116	[[AC:WillTheyOrWontThey]]
117	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' ended originally with the LastMinuteHookup of Kim and Ron before the show was UnCanceled.
118	* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' ended with the LastMinuteHookup as well. And unlike the above, it didn't get UnCanceled.
119	* ''Manga/{{Kodocha}}'''s anime adaptation ends with a final kiss Akito gives Sana and hinting that the two will soon get together. The rest of the episode is followed by a [[PostScriptSeason parody of a preview of a potential third season]].
120	* The ''Series/{{Friends}}'' finale ended with Ross and Rachel getting back together. For good, this time.
121	* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' ended with Urkel finally getting his girl, Laura, when they share a kiss after Urkel almost dies in outer space.
122	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' ends when Ted realizing that he really did love Robin the whole time and goes to her apartment with the symbol of their love, the blue french horn.
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124	[[AC:GainaxEnding]]
125	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is the most infamous, though the actual ending is relatively easy to understand if you take a College Course on Philosophy, Psychology, and/or Religious Studies.
126	* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': In the end, everyone goes crazy, wears weird costumes, and sings Dem Bones all day long. Would have been the Trope Namer if Gainax wasn't so infamously divisive at endings.
127	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'''s first finale (when Comedy Central had canceled them, and the Sci-Fi Channel hadn't yet UnCanceled them) has Mike and the bots fly the Satellite of Love out to the edge of the universe, where they all ascend as beings of pure energy. Meanwhile, Dr. Forester reenacts the notoriously confusing ending of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (with the Monolith replaced by a giant VHS tape labeled "the worst movie ever") and reverts to a baby, and his mother Pearl takes the opportunity to RaiseHimRightThisTime.
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129	[[AC: Other]]
130	* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' had so many {{series fauxnale}}s that several episodes fall into some of these tropes. "Lil Sebastian" (Season 3 finale) falls into the AndTheAdventureContinues trope, with Leslie thinking about running for city council, Tom quitting his job, and Ron's ex-wife Tammy 1 returning. "Leslie and Ben" falls into the wedding trope, with Leslie and Ben's wedding. "Moving Up" is a Distant Finale, with a 3-year TimeSkip. The actual series finale is a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue.
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