There are many fantasy TV shows that have a great run but end up having terrible endings. It's hard to get a fantasy TV show right from start to finish—continuity and logic must be consistent while seeking compelling stories for characters and dynamics. It's even harder for TV shows that mix fantasy with another genre to keep up with everything and deliver an excellent narrative. Plus, just because a fantasy TV show performs great doesn't necessarily mean it will be successful.
Many fantasy TV shows have near-perfect endings, while other fantasy TV shows have completely wasted their potential. As a TV show approaches its inevitable end, many questions arise depending on the circumstances. The stakes are even higher if the TV show is fantasy, as it has multiple elements to reach the conclusion. Unfortunately, many fantasy TV shows fail to provide satisfying endings. A show's ending might be too vague, or the last few seasons might be so terrible that the ending doesn't stand a chance. Regardless, at least 10 fantasy TV shows have terrible endings.
10
Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994-1998)
Final Episode: Spider Wars, Chapter II: Goodbye Spider-Man
Spider-Man: The Animated Series is easily one of the best animated fantasy TV shows. It aired on Fox Kids Network for four years, following Peter Parker's adventures as Spider-Man during college while juggling his personal life. The show had a great run, but got bogged down by the cliffhanger at the end. Spider-Man: The Animated Series Season 5, Episode 13, 'Spider Wars, Chapter II: Goodbye Spider-Man' ends with Madame Web taking Spider-Man to find Mary Jane, who had fallen into an interdimensional portal.
Spider-Man: The Animated Series cuts after this point, never revealing whether Peter found Mary Jane or not. Supposedly, there was supposed to be a sixth season of the show, but Spider-Man: The Animated Series was canceled after season 5, never revealing whether Peter found Mary Jane or not. It's not the worst ending, but it's still pretty bad, given the suspense.
9
Merlin (2008-2012)
Final Episode: The Diamond of the Day – Part 2 (December 24, 2012)
from the BBC Merlin was a popular fantasy show based on the Legend of Arthur that aired for over four years. Merlin revolved around the titular character when he learned of a prophecy where Merlin would protect Arthur with his own magic so that Arthur would become king and end anti-magic laws. The show featured five seasons of fantastical adventures as Merlin and Arthur grew closer while Merlin revealed his magical secret. Everything was leading up to the prophecy, so it came as a stunning shock when Arthur died an anticlimactic death at the end of the show.
When Merlin ended, Arthur was already king and united Albion, completing part of the prophecy. However, anti-magic laws were not abandoned and Arthur's death had no greater significance. There was nothing to suggest that Arthur would be resurrected to fulfill the rest of the prophecy. Arthur discovered the truth about Merlin's magic, but nothing else happened except thanking his friend. from the BBC Merlin met a terrible end because of his execution, leaving no hope for the magicians of Albion. Guinevere becoming Queen of Albion was the only good part of this ineffective ending.
8
True Blood (2008-2014)
Final Episode: Thank You (August 24, 2014)
HBO True Blood ran for seven seasons, revolving around the persistent conflict between humans and vampires now that the latter were able to roam freely and exist publicly, featuring iconic characters such as the half-fairy, half-human Sookie Stackhouse, the elusive vampire Bill Compton, and the vampire millennial Eric Northman. True Blood It was a progressive show ahead of its timeaddressing issues such as equal rights and oppression, so it was surprising to see it all go wrong True Bloodlast season.
Sookie's ending was a slap in the face to her development and the conservative mold True Blood struggled to break.
True Blood season 7 killed off several main characters for no good narrative reason; they were forgotten after their deaths. Sookie ended up with some human nobody and had his children, providing her with an anticlimactic ending that ultimately didn't align with the show's progressive themes. Sookie's ending was a slap in the face to her development and the conservative mold True Blood struggled to break. It is also notable that True Blood is based on the series by Charlaine Harris The Mysteries of the Southern Vampiresand the show and books have drastically different endings.
7
Terrible Penny (2014-2016)
Final episode: The Blessed Dark (June 19, 2016)
Terrible Penny was a fantastical retelling of Victorian England featuring several Victorian Gothic literary charactersincluding Victor Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and Mina Harker. Vanessa Ives tasked Ethan Chandler with finding Mina, but Ethan ended up becoming Vanessa's protector when Lucifer sought her out to become his bride. Terrible Penny had a controversial series finale when Ethan fatally shot Vanessa. This narrative decision was extremely strange for Ethan, despite Vanessa making him promise to kill her if she hurt anyone.
Even considering what Vanessa made Ethan promise, the ending was absurd. At the end of Terrible Penny In season 2, Ethan left for the United States, which led to a new romance between Vanessa and Dracula. In turn, Vanessa and Dracula's relationship brought Vanessa closer to the Evil Mother's prophecy, which is why Ethan felt inclined to kill her at the end of the series. However, it seemed strange for Ethan to abandon Vanessa only to return and end her life. This contradicted Vanessa and Ethan's special dynamic that they had cultivated over the years.
6
Teen Wolf (2011-2017)
Final Episode: The Wolves of War (September 24, 2017)
Teen Wolf ended with its sixth season, the final episode being “The Wolves of War”. However, this ending was doomed to failure for three reasons. Firstly, Teen Wolf spent nearly six seasons building Stiles Stilinski and Lydia Martin's romance. Although they finally got together in Teen Wolf Season 6, Episode 10, 'Riders on the Storm', the episode felt more like a series finale than a mid-season finale. “Riders on the Storm” wrapped up the last long-awaited storyline, giving the show a sense of completion. Therefore, the last 10 episodes of Teen Wolf seemed unnecessary, redundant and even exaggerated.
Teen WolfThe series finale was also terrible because of the show's terrible treatment of Kira Yukimura. Teen Wolf dropped Kira at the end of its fifth season for no reason. Kira actor Arden Cho has always been transparent about Teen Wolfincluding when she made a video explaining that the production dismissed her because “they ended with Kira's storyalthough Kira was one of the Teen WolfThe film's most underrated characters with much more story to tell. Production did not ask Cho to return for the end of the show, making “The Wolves of War” extremely unpleasant and off-putting.
The last reason Teen Wolf Season 6, Episode 20, 'The Wolves of War' was a bad ending because it ended up not being an ending at all. Teen Wolf: The Movie was released in early 2023 as a spinoff. Teen Wolf: The MovieThe ending of essentially destroyed all the characters – bringing Allison back to life, undoing years of Scott McCall's character development. Furthermore, Teen Wolf: The MovieMissing major characters (including the iconic Stiles Stilinski) led to the film's failure. Ultimately, this movie was a terrible idea and only butchered the characters further.
5
Star vs. The Forces of Evil (2015-2019)
Final Episode: Cleaved (May 19, 2019)
Star against the forces of evil was an animated TV show that aired on Disney XD and Disney Channel from 2015 to 2019. The show revolved around Star, heir to the Butterfly Kingdom, and her journey as a real-world exchange student based in Los Angeles. It was an excellent show, full of emotion and joy. However, The series finale, 'Cleaved,' had a shocking twist that significantly darkened the ending—Star eliminates magic from the world and combines her home dimension, Mewni, and Earth.
Erasing all magic suggested a mass extinction of innocent magical creatures, which was unfair, wrong, and completely out of character for Star.
While Star had to stop Mina, the dramatic narrative decision to eliminate all magical elements was not well executed. Erasing all magic suggested a mass extinction of innocent magical creatures, which was unfair, wrong, and completely out of character for Star. Furthermore, combining the worlds and eradicating magic just for Star to have a romantic relationship was not fulfilling and was a complete disservice to the show.
4
Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Final Episode: The Iron Throne (May 19, 2019)
Of course, Game of Thrones has one of the most notorious terrible endings of any fantasy show. Everything Daenerys worked for went up in smoke; Arya left the North after years of trying to return home; Jaime's redemption arc proved futile; and Bran becoming King of Westeros because of a disability was significantly capable and a decision that came out of nowhere. Although George RR Martin told David Benioff and DB Weiss about Bran's kingship, Martin will write it sensibly and not base it entirely on Bran's inability to walk – especially since Bran's book counterpart is more developed.
However, Game of Thrones' finale was doomed before the final episode. Of course, Game of Thrones season 8 went wrong in a lot of ways, but the show's quality began to deteriorate as Weiss and Benioff moved away from the source materialespecially around season 5. Some iconic episodes, like “The Battle of the Bastards”, don’t make up for other bad choices. It must have been difficult to create original content after the show passed A Song of Ice and Firetimeline. However, many narrative decisions felt out of character and for shock value rather than advancing the narrative.
The only good thing about the Game of Thrones The series finale is Sansa becoming Queen in the North, a satisfying ending for one of the few characters who remained close to her book counterpart. Otherwise, Game of Thrones went down in history as having one of the worst endings. That said, since the show's downfall occurred long before the final season, the ending would still have been unsatisfying because the show simply began prioritizing the Iron Throne over the White Walker conflict.
3
Supernatural (2005-2020)
Final Episode: Continue (November 19, 2020)
Supernatural had a notoriously bad ending in its final episode, “Carry On.” Although Dean and Sam Winchester are reunited in heaven, the events leading up to this meeting – most notably, Dean's death decades earlier – were simply terrible. The show's creator initially planned to end Supernatural after five seasonswith the show's fifth season ending with the creator's initial vision. However, Supernatural continued for another 10 seasons, creating the risk that whenever the show ended, it wouldn't live up to its original ending.
Dean Winchester's death was a complete insult to his character development. He struggled with his mental health and the idea that he wasn't good enough, only to die in a way that aligned with his darkest thoughts. Supernatural There were many traumatic moments, but Dean's death took the cake. The only thing worse was Castiel dying two episodes earlier, confessing his love for Dean – after years of discourse about the romantic nature of Dean and Castiel's relationship in Supernatural– only to die moments later.
2
American Gods (2017-2021)
Final Episode: Tears of the Wrath-Bearing Tree (March 21, 2021)
American Gods was a fantasy drama TV show based on the book by Neil Gaiman. It revolved around the protagonist, Shadow Moon, as he becomes involved with a magical world filled with “Old Gods” and “New Gods” because of the mysterious Mr. While American Gods had a great first season, the show's quality deteriorated after thatnotably once American Gods'The original showrunners left after disagreements over budget and source material. Notably, American Gods it strayed further from the book in the second and third seasons, which is ironic considering Neil Gaiman wanted a more accurate adaptation of his book.
American Gods ended after three seasons with the death of Shadow Moon, which occurred in the book. However, Easter resurrected Shadow Moon, while in the series, Easter does not appear after the first season. American Gods had different showrunners for each seasonestablishing a lack of continuity in the show's development and plot.
1
Riverdale (2017-2023)
Final Episode: Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale (August 23, 2023)
To be fair, at the time Riverdale fell into the fantasy genre, the quality of the show dropped significantly. Nothing about Riverdale it made more sense and it was clearer than ever that the show should have ended after its first season. However, Riverdale it has still become a cultural icon and a renowned guilty pleasure. The show was bad, but it was so bad that no one could stay away from it. A show as iconic as Riverdale deserved an equally iconic endingso it was just amazing that after RiverdaleIn the seven seasons, the series finale completely fell flat.
While Riverdale Season 7 introduced interesting new stories, the characters remaining in their new timeline was a disappointing decision after everything they had suffered. Even more disappointing was Tabitha leaving her friends to fix the multiverse, which was a disservice to her character. However, the most disappointing decision was Riverdale refusing to establish an endgame. RiverdaleThe film's ending introduced the quarrel between Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica, which seemed like the ultimate cop-out rather than choosing decisive romantic endings.