Ending a television series is one of the hardest things in entertainment. A great finale can elevate an entire show. A bad one can undo years of goodwill in a single episode. Some finales leave fans satisfied, emotional, and eager to rewatch the journey. Others leave viewers staring at their screens wondering how everything went so wrong. With that in mind, here’s our ranking of some of the biggest TV series finales of the 21st century, from best to worst.
At the very top sits Breaking Bad. More than a decade later, it remains the gold standard for how to end a television drama. Walter White’s story concluded exactly where it needed to, delivering closure without sacrificing character logic. The finale answered questions, rewarded longtime viewers, and somehow managed to feel both inevitable and surprising.
Close behind is Dark. The Netflix sci-fi phenomenon built one of the most complex stories television has ever seen, filled with time travel, alternate realities, and endless mysteries. Yet against all odds, it stuck the landing. Rather than collapsing under its own ambition, the series connected nearly every thread it introduced and delivered one of the most satisfying endings in modern television.
The Office takes third place for emotional impact alone. The return of Michael Scott, heartfelt goodbyes, and meaningful closure for nearly every major character made the finale feel less like an episode and more like saying goodbye to old friends.
Friends remains one of the most beloved sitcom endings ever made. While some fans still debate whether Ross and Rachel would realistically stay together, the emotional payoff worked. The final shot of the empty apartment remains one of television’s most iconic moments.
The rankings become much more divisive from there. Stranger Things delivered a decent ending but failed to match the enormous expectations surrounding it. After years of buildup, many viewers felt the finale relied too heavily on fan service and played things too safe.
The Vampire Diaries suffered from a different problem. While the finale itself wasn’t disastrous, it arrived after several seasons of declining quality, making it difficult to recapture the magic of the show’s peak years.
Then comes Euphoria. After years of delays and endless anticipation, fans expected something extraordinary. Instead, many felt the finale left major storylines unresolved and failed to recapture the emotional and visual magic that originally made the series a phenomenon.
Near the bottom sits Gossip Girl. The reveal of Dan Humphrey as Gossip Girl remains one of television’s most controversial twists, largely because it created countless plot holes and contradictions that fans still point out today.
Second-last is How I Met Your Mother, a finale that managed to frustrate viewers by seemingly undoing years of character growth in a matter of minutes. The decision to kill off the Mother and return Ted to Robin remains one of the most criticized endings in sitcom history.
And finally, there is Game of Thrones.
No finale has fallen from grace quite like this one. After dominating popular culture for nearly a decade, the HBO fantasy epic ended with rushed storylines, controversial character decisions, and unresolved arcs. The backlash was so intense that many fans stopped revisiting the series altogether.
For a show once considered one of the greatest of all time, that’s perhaps the harshest verdict of all.
Agree or disagree? One thing is certain: television fans never forget a finale.