There’s little worse than a favorite TV show being canceled before the series comes to its natural end. Whilecertain shows leave off on a cliffhanger on purpose, others don’t have a choicebecause they weren’t expecting the planned plot arc to be cut short. Plenty ofrecently ended TV shows will never get a revival, and often, this is for the best when a series has told its complete story. However, for projects that end too soon, audiences will hold out for any glimmer of hope that the show might return and wrap up its story.
There are certain shows that have only grown in popularity since their cancelation, becoming cult classics with audiences of newer generations.
Just because a series concludes with certain aspects of the narrative in doubt doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching. There are certain shows that have only grown in popularity since their cancelation, becoming cult classics with audiences of newer generations. Many of thebiggest TV show cliffhangers of all timehave come from shows that later resolved this aspect of the story the following season. However,no matter how popular a series is, utilizing the cliffhanger is always a risk.Sometimes, it pays off, and sometimes, there’s no way to know how a show was supposed to end.
10 Canceled TV Shows That Could Still Realistically Return
The cancelation of a TV show can be devastating, especially when they’re well-loved. This leads fans to hope that someday, the series will come back.
Hannibal
Cast
Created for TV by Bryan Fuller, Hannibal is a TV adaptation/reimagining of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon novel. The show follows the exploits of FBI criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and their perpetual game of cat and mouse that unfolds over the series. When a string of murders in Minnesota requires a brilliant mind to crack the case, Will Graham is called in to investigate - but due to the intimate and terrifying nature of the crimes, he is appointed Dr. Lecter to act as his psychiatrist. The truth of Dr. Lecter is that he is Will’s target - but to complicate matters, he’s the only person that can truly understand him.
Just when the men were beginning to understand each other, the show took an incredible turn.
Even the most cynical viewers haven’t lost hope thatHannibalseason 4 might happen, even though it’s been many years since Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham graced the small screen.Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy play Lecter and Graham,and the undeniable chemistry and simmering tension that slowly built up throughout the series' three seasons is one of the reasonsHannibal’s story still feels unresolved. Just when the men were beginning to understand each other, the show took an incredible turn.
The series finale sees Will and Hannibal come up against Dolarhyde, their biggest adversary in season 3, and Dolarhyde’s violent actions finally push Will over the edge. Engaging in the vicious behavior that Hannibal always wanted for him, Will appears to accept this side of himself and the side that wants to be with Hannibal. However, the pair fall into the ocean together, andtheir deaths are neither confirmed nor denied in the post-credit scene. If the pair did survive, there would be plenty to explore in their life together.
My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl follows Earl Hickey, a petty criminal who wins the lottery and embarks on a mission to correct his past wrongdoings. Created by Greg Garcia and first aired in 2005, the series explores themes of karma and redemption as Earl attempts to make amends for his past.
It came as a shock thatMy Name Is Earlseason 5 never happened and that the series was forever left on the open-ended conclusion of the season 4 finale.The series follows Earl, played by Jason Lee, as he becomes convinced that he must change his bad karmaand spends the show doing good deeds to make up for his checkered past. While the people in his life are rarely supportive, he goes out of his way to do the right thing by them, including Joy (Jaime Pressly), his ex-wife, and her two kids.
A recurring plot point throughout the series is that though Earl and Joy were married, neither of her children are biologically his, but the season 4 finale changed all this. Season 4 pushed the boundaries of the show in many ways. It incorporated more thrilling plots than ever before involving government agencies and witness protection. However,the biggest shock was that Joy’s son Dodge was fathered by Earl.Additionally, the audience learns that the supposed father of her son Earl Jr. isn’t Darnell, her current husband. This finale left a tangled web of confusion and relationship issues in its wake.
The Last Man on Earth
The Last Man on Earth is a fox comedy series set in a post-apocalyptic world where a virus has wiped out nearly all human life - at least, that’s what Phil Miller believes. Heading on a cross-country journey to find other survivors, Phil nearly succumbs to hopelessness until he finds a woman named Carol, who suggests the two attempt to repopulate the Earth. Soon enough, more and more humans are found alive, slowly building new communities - but Phil seems to have trouble acclimating to the new societal order.
He encounters more people constantly, and the series unfolds similarly to a sitcom as the survivors still have to deal with the everyday issues of being a person.
The Last Man on Earthis apost-apocalyptic TV show that’s surprisingly hopefuland evolved a great deal throughout its run. It begins with Will Forte’s character,Philip Tandy Miller, believing he is the lone human survivor of a deadly plague,but this is far from the truth. He encounters more people constantly, and the series unfolds similarly to a sitcom as the survivors still have to deal with the everyday issues of being a person. However,The Last Man on Earthdoes include typical tropes of the apocalypse genre.
Each season ofThe Last Man on Earthreveals that there are more survivors and remaining groups than Phil initially believed. If anything, the world becomes a little too crowded for him by the series finale, whenPhil and his group stumble upon a community of people who have been living undergroundand waiting out the virus. The show ends with this discovery, and it opens the door to many questions. In the past, Phil and his friends haven’t had the best luck with people from outside their group, and the underground society could have done anything to them.
My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life is a TV drama series that aired in 1994-1995, centered on teenager Angela Chase, played by Claire Danes, as she navigates the complexities of high school life, friendships, and family relationships. The show explores themes of identity, peer pressure, and adolescence, featuring a strong ensemble cast including Jared Leto as Jordan Catalano and Bess Armstrong as Angela’s mother, Patty Chase.
Claire Danes skyrocketed to fame thanks to her starring role in the iconic teen dramedyMy So-Called Life. Though it only ran for one season,the series has been hailed as one of the most important shows that frankly discusses the reality of adolescence.Sexuality, mental health, family dynamics, and many more of the difficulties usually swept under the rug by typical teen shows. Much of the conflict and intrigue stemmed from the romantic relationship between Danes' character, Angela, and her longtime crush, Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto).
Jordan embodied the classic bad boy archetype, and though he did terrible things to her, Angela couldn’t stop herself from wanting to be with him. However, Jordan attempts to win her back by having Brian (Devon Gummersall) write a love letter to Angela for him. This was complicated by the fact that Brian was harboring his own romantic feelings for Angela. Even after she finds out the truth,Angela still appears to choose Jordan, but the episode ends before she’s left with himor before any other plot lines are resolved.
I Am Not Okay with This
I Am Not Okay With This is a Netflix series centering on the complicated life of Sydney Novak, played by IT star Sophia Lillis. Sydney is a teenager who is juggling life as a high schooler, family issues, and her sexuality. To top things off, she’s also starting to develop mysterious superpowers.
Netflix has canceled many TV shows that end on cliffhangers, andI Am Not Okay With Thisis just the latest in the long list of series that were cut short before their time. While trying to navigate her changing body and changing feelings, the protagonist, Sydney Novak (Sophia Lillis), starts changing into something she never expected. Gaining telekinetic powers that are ruled by her emotions, Sydney frequently hears whispers that she’s more like her deceased father than she thinks, but their full connection is never discovered.
I Am Not Okay With Thisis based on a comic book series of the same name, but the single season doesn’t end as violently as the graphic novel. Instead,the series ends on a cryptic note with the mysterious figure who’s been following Sydney.He reveals himself and implies that there are other people with powers in the world. This comes on the heels of Sydney blowing up the head of one of her bullies and escaping to the woods. Unfortunately, where Sydney goes from here will remain a mystery.
Agent Carter
Agent Carter is an Action-Adventure Superhero Sci-Fi television series that takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The show was developed by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and revolves around the Stan Lee Comic Book character, Peggy Carter. Starring Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter herself, the adventure follows the S.H.I.E.L.D agent as she attempts to help Howard Stark from being accused of treason.
It was an emotionally fraught premise, as Peggy was reeling from the loss of Steve while trying to be taken seriously as a secret agent and a woman in the 1940s.
Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter was first introduced inCaptain America: The First Avengerin 2011,but her performance was so strong that it couldn’t be the end of her time in the MCU. ThoughCaptain Americaends with Steve waking up in the 21st century, Marvel decided to create a show set in the past about Peggy’s life after Steve. It was an emotionally fraught premise, as Peggy was reeling from the loss of Steve while trying to be taken seriously as a secret agent and a woman in the 1940s.
WhileAgent Carterwas on T, the other Marvel network show,Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,was also airing, marking this period as an early example of the MCU TV shows that have taken over Disney+. However,Agent Carterdidn’t enjoy the long run ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.and was canceled after season 2. This was unfortunate, as the impromptu series finale seesPeggy deciding to stay in Los Angeles while Agent Thompson is killed by a hidden assailantwho takes a file on Peggy with them. Had season 3 been ordered, this might have spelled big trouble for Peggy.
The OAonly got better as the series progressed, and that’s saying something, considering how critically acclaimed season 1 was. Additionally, the show only got a total of two seasons, but the sophomore outing pushed the boundaries of the thrilling sci-fi show in meta and intertextual ways.Starring Brit Marling as the OA/Prairie, the series also features Jason Isaacsin an equally compelling role as Hap, the antagonist who is the driving force behind Prairie’s actions. With the multiple dimensions and endless mysteries,The OAwas difficult enough to comprehend without the cliffhanger ending.
The OAseason 2 builds to the point of discovering that Hap has created a way to easily jump between dimensionsand learn what’s waiting for him there but at the cost of innocent lives. This leads the OA to a dimension that is almost indistinguishable from our reality, in which Brit and Jason become characters in a world where the characters are actors in a fictionalized version ofThe OA. With Karim’s role in the multiple universes also revealed to be deeper than audiences realize, more questions are asked than answered in the series' final episode.
The Society
One day in West Ham, Connecticut, the students of the local high school return from a field trip to find the rest of the town’s population gone. With a dense forest surrounding the town and no way to contact the outside world via phone or internet, the teenagers must formulate their own rules to maintain their own society and survival.
The Societyposes the question of what would happen if a group of teenagers were isolated and left to their own devices to rule over their small town. While pure anarchy doesn’t erupt right away,The Societygrapples with the darkest and most hopeful aspects of human natureand pushes its characters to their breaking point. Violence, betrayals, and anxieties blossom as the group of kids tries to maintain order and fit for survival in a world unlike anything they’ve ever known.
Kathryn Newton plays Allie, the reluctant and uncertain leader of the town who has to make definitive and effective choices to take care of the people around her.The Societyseries finale sees Allie start to lose control of the town,and the mystery of how the kids got cut off from the rest of the world remains unsolved. Additionally, a subsection of the group had found new land that could be used to grow food. However, these future problems were never solved byThe Society.
GLOW
Based on the 1980s wrestling phenomenon of the same name, GLOW (aka Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) is a comedy-drama series created by Netflix. It focuses on the women and people behind the unconventional new wrestling federation. The show follows three main characters, struggling actress Ruth Wilder, retried soap star Debbie Eagen, and director Sam Sylvia as they battle each other over how they wish to elevate their new project, all while dealing with the struggles of discrimination in entertainment during the 80s.
Ruth’s relationship with Debbie (Betty Gilpin) is a large part of this, and Debbie would have set the series on a new course in season 4.
Watching Ruth (Alison Brie) transform into an incredible character throughoutGLOW’s seasons was one of the best parts of the show. Whilespectacle and the dedication to the period in the costumes and sets were significant parts of the series' appeal,it was the characters that kept the audience coming back for more. Ruth’s relationship with Debbie (Betty Gilpin) is a large part of this, and Debbie would have set the series on a new course in season 4.
Season 3 ends with Betty buying a TV network and offering Ruth the chance to be the directorof a new GLOW series. However, Ruth doesn’t know if that’s what she wants, and many of the other women of GLOW are following new paths. Unfortunately, this shift in the power dynamic of the series was never fully explored. A large part of whyGLOWnever got to wrap up with season 4 is because the industry was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic just when they were supposed to begin filming.
10 Infuriating TV Show Cliffhangers That I Still Haven’t Forgiven
Any cliffhanger on TV, no matter its quality, can always be very infuriating to wait and see how it’s resolved, and these are no exception.
Pushing Daisies
Created by Bryan Fuller, Pushing Daisies stars Lee Pace as Ned, a baker who can inexplicably bring people back from the dead with just one touch. With the help of a private investigator and his previously deceased childhood girlfriend who he has rescued from death, Ned uses his ability to help solve murders. Anna Friel, Kristin Chenoweth, and Chi McBride also star.
Before he played the imposing Brother Day in Apple TV+‘sFoundation, Lee Pace was the adorable and bumbling Ned inPushing Daisies. Blessed, or cursed, with the ability to bring the dead back to life with one touch,Ned owns a pie shop and tries to avoid trouble until he brings his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel), back to life.The rest of the series sees Ned, Chuck, and their friends solve crimes using Ned’s gifts and slowly piece together the hidden parts of the character’s lives.
Pushing Daisieswas one of the many casualties of the 2007-2008 Writer’s Strike, as the beloved series only ran for two seasons. The cancelation meant thatthe doomed romance between Ned and Chuck never resolvesand that the show concludes with Chuck finally exposing the secret that she’s alive to her aunts. Though the show provided enough hope for the future that the audience can picture happy lives for the characters, it’s difficult not to feel the show was just getting started and that nothing was wrapped up.
