25 Most Incredible Series Finales of the Decade

The relationships we have with our favorite television shows and television characters are unique. The reasons we fall in love with shows vary: some represent our darkest desires or greatest ideals, while others are a happy escape from the realities of our lives.

Whatever the reason, the best shows become a part of us. We quote their best dialogue at work, we reflect on their lessons, and we share our favorite moments with the people we love.

Given that, saying goodbye to our favorite shows is never easy, and it’s even more anxiety-inducing to wonder what last memories they’ll leave us with.

Fortunately, in this past decade of peak prestige TV, we have had an exceptional number of shows nail their swan songs, leaving us breathless, moved, and satiated.

Here are our favorite series finales from the past decade, in no particular order. Proceed with caution and expect significant spoilers below:

1. 30 Rock

In its two-part series ender, 30 Rock bids farewell like it lived, with jokes at breakneck speed, celebrity cameos, and plenty of self-referential humor. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll Lizz.

30 Rock is a workplace comedy, but it’s also a love story (albeit a non-romantic one) between Jack and Liz. When they weren’t busy chasing Tracy or outmaneuvering Jack’s nemesis-of-the-week, these two challenged and pushed each other to want more for themselves, and the finale celebrates that.

Jack and Liz’s admission that they love each other is the most sentimental 30 Rock gets over its entire run, but it’s not treacly (few moments that feature a mention of “bear meat” can be). Plus, the final scene, which heavily references the famous series finale of St. Elsewhere, is the perfect kind of tongue-in-cheek humor 30 Rock does so well.

2. The Americans

For a series that centers around two spies, the audience has some expectation for how it will end. Philip and Elizabeth Jennings were compelling characters, but they were also the enemy, and the show had to make them pay somehow.

The series surprised audiences by steering away from a grandstanding trial or an epic face-off for a quieter and temperate exit. On The Americans Season 6 Episode 10, “START,” the Jennings realize they’re compromised and decide they’re going to go back to Russia, but along the way, they’re going to pay the price: being separated from their children.

The final episode is full of emotional goodbyes and confrontations. While it’s all very stiff and rigid, it tugs at the heartstrings as Philip and Elizabeth put on their real wedding rings, say goodbye to Henry, reason with a betrayed Stan, and deal with Paige’s choice to get off the train.

In many ways, the sequence of events that occurred in The Americans series finale hurts worse and feels a bit like the ending the characters deserve.

The final scene of the series shows the Jennings back in Russia, walking with snow falling and wondering if their children will remember and forgive them. A somber, and yet perfect, note to end a series with themes of identity, allegiance, and trust.

3. The Big Bang Theory

The finale features multiple treats for longtime fans (like a long-awaited glimpse of Howard and Bernadette’s kids and a well functioning elevator), but this episode will best be remembered for Penny’s surprise pregnancy — really the only thing resembling a twist on this episode — and Sheldon’s moving acceptance speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony.

We challenge you not to cry as you watch Sheldon discuss how he’s been “encouraged, sustained, inspired, and tolerated” by his friends. May we all ever be so lucky.

It’s also fitting that while the gang all travels to Sweden, the episode doesn’t conclude there. Instead, our last moments are with the group as they chow down on Chinese food in Penny and Leonard’s apartment.

4. Breaking Bad

Wrapping up shows in a satisfying way is notoriously difficult; it’s an even taller order for a show like Breaking Bad, a landmark series in the era of prestige TV.

Nearly every character in the ensemble gets a moment of their own, and unlike other series finales, almost every dangling storyline gets tied up. That’s not to say that all that closure means everyone’s left happy. Hell, everyone doesn’t even make it out alive.

In the end, Walter White meets his demise; meth was his drug of choice, and while he didn’t use it in the traditional sense, he was still an addict, hooked on the high he got from the power of being a drug lord.

On the finale, he’s finally honest about who he is: all of his exploits weren’t in service of his family and his motivations were indeed self-serving.

His admission of this — something he denied the entire series — may be the noblest thing he does the whole series. The irony that after years of breaking bad, he spent his last days trying to make good isn’t lost on us…but is it enough?

5. Broad City

Few shows have so accurately captured the ethos of being young in New York City or the beautiful codependency that is female friendship in your twenties. Broad City does all that and then some, and its finale is a bittersweet final romp for BFFs Abbi and Ilana.

While the first half of the episode focuses on another of Abbi and Ilana’s absurd adventures — this time, to transport a “smart toilet” across the Brooklyn Bridge — the latter half reveals something deeper.

Friendships, or at least the really “beautiful, deep, real, cool, hot, meaningful, important” ones, evolve because it’s necessary as we grow — in fact, sometimes, they’re the very reason we grow — but those relationships are always with us.

Plus, around every single corner, there are other Abbi and Ilanas, playing hype (wo)man, confidante, therapist, and partner-in-crime to each other.

6. Chuck

So many finales end up a strange and twisted sendoff that fans wade through the spectacle once, and never dare do so again.

Chuck, on the other hand, plays to its strengths keeping up the right amount of comedy amidst all the action. The writers keep the stakes high up until the last few minutes, where we are left with a satisfying cliffhanger.

We may never know if Sarah gets her memory back, or if they will rebuild the Buy More once again, but this bittersweet swan song is still able to hit all the right notes, leaving us with the tiniest bit of hope that there are still some stories left to tell.

7. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

It’s easy to assume that a show called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend would end with a straightforward, traditional rom-com happy ending; its protagonist happily partnered up. An ex-girlfriend no more!

But Crazy Ex-Girlfriend isn’t straightforward, and in truth, the real love story of the show isn’t about Rebecca and any man. It’s about Rebecca learning to actually know and love herself, mental illness and all.

That the show ends with Rebecca choosing herself and using music to tell her story and process her feelings is powerful. She’s not singing in fantasies existing only in her mind; after a year of arduously working on her craft, she finally lets herself be seen and shares her songs with others.

So Crazy Ex-Girlfriend leaves us with this: there’s no richer, or more challenging, or more exciting love story than the one you have discovering yourself.

8. Friday Night Lights

While Friday Night Lights burned bright for much of its five-season run, it was never a ratings darling, making it all the more miraculous that it ended on its own terms.

Though there is a championship title at stake, the finale, much like the series itself, tackles far more than preparation for a football game.

There’s an unexpected marriage proposal, mended fences, and, most importantly, a major lesson on compromise and partnership courtesy of Coach and Tami Taylor as he agrees to follow her to Philadelphia to chase her professional dreams.

Who knew the phrase “It’s your turn” could be so romantic?

That’s the beauty of a show like Friday Night Lights though. Its best moments were the simplest ones, full of heart and honesty. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. Lights out.

9. Halt and Catch Fire

Halt and Catch Fire is a rare show that manages to improve each and every season and end on its highest note.

“Ten of Swords” brings each of the characters full-circle. The wounds between Donna and Cameron have been healed once and for all, paving the way for a reunion of the show’s most compelling partnership.

Joe, having spent seasons trying and failing to get out ahead of the next brilliant idea, finds himself reflecting on what it means to continually start anew — in other words, what it means to be human.

Halt and Catch Fire‘s finale caps off a brilliant fourth-season run that makes failure feel beautiful and meaningful. It invites us to revel in the imperfect, to understand that it’s okay not to feel invincible, and to know that the legacy you leave is created by uplifting the people around you.

By the time “Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel starts playing, we know these characters are going to be okay no matter what personal or professional roadblocks they face. It’s the perfect ending to a story that was always about taking risks, leaping into the unknown, and searching for the next big thing.

10. Hart of Dixie 

The finale manages to be a celebration of what made Hart of Dixie so special: quirky, small-town shenanigans, Southern charm, and a big pulsating heart.

All three couples (Lemon/Lavon, Annabeth/George, Zoe/Wade) get their respective happy endings and even the cheesiest of developments seem palatable. There aren’t too many shows where a bedside wedding in a maternity ward and a town-wide singalong would fly, but that’s exactly the kind of giddy warmth that made Hart of Dixie special.

It’s a show filled with total unabashed optimism and light and its finale makes no apologies for that. Long live the H(e)art.

11. Hannibal

It’s hard to put this on a series finale list because of the collective hope floating in the universe from showrunner Bryan Fuller and the Hannibal fandom (aka Fannibals) that the show could continue beyond the season three finale.

With that hope aside, the series finale of Hannibal is a work of art.

It has a lot going for it: horror elements, romance, thrilling action, and Gillian Anderson. The psychological push and pull between Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham comes to a head in a gloriously dark and rainy scene atop a cliffside. Together they fight a monster, a dragon, a man, all in one, along with their own inner demons.

Siouxsie Sioux’s “Love Crime” plays as the ship known as Hannigram tumbles over the cliff’s edge into the ocean. It is tragic and poetic…and open-ended when the final scene shows Bedelia Du Maurier seated at an elaborately set table with her own leg as the main course before her.

Fuller points out that there are three place settings at this macabre meal leaving Fannibals to speculate the outcome until the end of time (or when that fourth season is finally, blessedly, bestowed on us all).

12. Jane the Virgin

Ah, friends, where to begin? Jane the Virgin’s finale is rather quiet, devoid of the normal twists, turns, and gasps associated with its telenovela format. 

The briefest moment of melancholy comes when Xo panics and shuts down her plans to move to New York City with Rogelio. That — and any other potential conflict — is quickly resolved because the finale is all about joy and celebration.

Rafael and Jane’s wedding ceremony will melt even the most-stone cold of hearts, and the show manages to end with two final true-to-form meta surprises.

The reveal that a grown-up Mateo has been our friendly narrator this whole time and has been narrating a telenovela based on his mother’s life is the perfect exclamation point at the end of a beautiful series.

13. Justified

Defying expectations, Justified doesn’t end with a bang. That almost would have been too easy an end for longtime foils Raylan and Boyd. That’s not to say the modern-day Western lacks a confrontation at high-noon. It has one, but that’s not the key takeaway from the episode.

In fact, the most memorable part of the finale comes at the end, after a four-year time jump. After years of antagonism, Raylan and Boyd are left with an almost cathartic sense of mutual respect, and long-suffering Ava finally makes an escape for a happier life. It’s the rare finale for a drama where all the key players end up generally alive and well.

But that’s not the point. The finale underlines and realizes some of the show’s core themes, namely that it’s possible to make different choices and leave your past behind.

14. The Leftovers

As a show, The Leftovers always seemed to ask more questions than it could ever possibly answer.

Its finale is no different. It doesn’t try to give us answers to every plot point. No, its focus is small and intimate, serving mostly as a vehicle for the brilliant Carrie Coon’s Nora.

Nora weaves a tale of crossing to an alternate universe to find the family she lost. Her chronicle of her journey –and eventually, her return to the 98% — is devastating, but is it true?

There are stories that are based in reality and the stories that we tell ourselves, the ones that eventually become our truth. In the end, whether we believe her or not, does it really matter whether Nora’s story was true in the literal sense? The show leaves it up to us to decide.

15. Mad Men

Unlike so many other finales on this list, Mad Men‘s ending isn’t definitive. Was it Don that actually came up with the iconic “I’d Like To Buy the World a Coke” ad? Or is the ad simply representative of the kind of work he stood for?

If he did create it, was it because he’d reached a new level of happiness and understanding that he was able to creatively channel? Or, perhaps, so disconnected from other people did he just return to form and use the people around him as as fodder to sell a sugary drink?

For a finale that ties up so many loose ends for its supporting characters, it leaves things incredibly vague for its leading man. But therein lies its maddening brilliance. Don Draper was always a man shrouded in mystery. And he still is.

16. New Girl

There’s a nice sense of symmetry to the end of the show. The show begins when Jess moves into the loft and it makes sense that it ends with her leaving.

When Jess and Nick’s eviction is revealed to be a giant prank of Winston’s, and it’s further explained that they don’t actually have to move, the couple still chooses to do so.

The gang’s last night in the loft, and similarly, this whole finale, is full of nostalgia and laughter. The show doesn’t try to go out with a bang, or leave us with any shocks; it’s simply a great last night with characters we’ve grown to love, doing the very things that made us love them in the first place.

17. Nurse Jackie

There’s a sense of redemption and finality in a lot of the finales on the list. Nurse Jackie‘s finale is not one of them.

After several seasons of fighting drug addiction, Jackie loses her fight…or does she? Like another Edie Falco vehicle, The Sopranos, the series ends with an ambiguous ending. Did Jackie finally fatally overdose? Is she able to be saved? It’s never quite clear, but things don’t look good.

What’s brilliant about this finale is that there’s no spoon-feeding involved. It leaves the audience to decide how to interpret Jackie’s fate, with either option being a valid choice.

18. The Office

The final outing for our favorite paper salesmen deserves all the Dundies.

First, a Dundie for Wisest goes to Jim Halpert for summing up what makes even the most banal of jobs worthwhile: the people we meet there.

He explains, “even if I didn’t love every minute of it, everything I have I owe to this job. This stupid, wonderful, boring amazing job.” Jim manages to speak not just for himself but for all of us who have found lifelong friends, partners, or mentors at our offices.

Next, a Dundie for Best Surprise Appearance to Michael Scott. Having left the show seasons earlier, Steve Carell was adamant that he would not be reprising his role for the series finale but thankfully, this was all a ruse.

He only speaks twice, and one of those is for a “that’s what she said” joke, but his presence buoys the proceedings and brings a tear to our eyes when we learn that he finally has the family phone plan he’s always dreamed of.

19. Orange is the New Black

Orange is the New Black‘s finale is equal parts hopeful and tragic, and that’s perfectly exemplified in its handling of Taystee’s storyline. Taystee gets a happy ending or at least as “happy” of an ending as you can get when you’re sentenced to life in prison for a crime you didn’t commit.

Despondent, Taystee nearly succumbs to suicide, but, by some miracle, she stops herself, reclaiming her life and finding purpose in founding the Poussey Washington Fund and teaching fellow inmates how to support themselves in their post-prison life (the fund is real; visit here to donate).

What makes the finale powerful, and ultimately what made the series successful, is its ability to co-mingle conflicting ideas: despair and optimism, dignity and inhumanity. Nothing, and no one, is ever just one thing. Orange may be the new black, but really, life is gray.

20. Orphan Black

Throughout its run, Orphan Black distinguished itself from other sci-fi shows. As intelligent and political as it was, it never sacrificed its emotional core.

Gather around my sestras, and let me tell you about our final moments with the Clone Club. The finale is centered primarily on healing, freedom, and yes, sisterhood.

Helena and Sarah take center stage for the final hour. Helena, for the most part is full of joy and reflection, living happily with her twin boys and recounting the stories of the clones in her memoir, aptly named Orphan Black. Sarah is struggling to establish new healthy patterns and confidently move forward with her life.

The show ends doesn’t end with a loud action sequence, but with a family conversation at the campfire about their journeys, about motherhood, about fear. No longer fighting the world alone, a found family. No matter who you are, life is best distilled to quiet moments like that.

21. Parenthood 

Parenthood‘s finale is a total home run, and not just because of the narrative symmetry of ending both the pilot and series finale with a baseball game or following the birth of baby Zeek with the loss of patriarch Zeek.

There’s a reason the show has a reputation for being a tearjerker and it lives up to that legacy on the finale.

There is beautifully moving dialogue (the Sarah/Zeek exchange about whether he was a good father may take the prize for most tear-inducing), but what’s even more significant is how much of the show is simply scored with music, letting the scenes play out without cluttering them with dialogue, allowing the emotional significance to sink in without distractions.

We say goodbye to the Bravermans as Camille finally travels to Paris, Crosby and Adam find new professional challenges, Max graduates from high school, Julia and Joel spend the holidays with their continuously expanding family, and Amber finds new love.

Zeek may be gone, but as the show demonstrates, that’s the circle of life, and the kids are alright.

22. Parks and Recreation

Airing during the Era of the Lone Antihero, one of the things that set Parks and Recreation apart from other shows was its inherent sincerity, hope, and optimism.

The series finale manages to give almost all of its players a moment to shine (complete with detailed, hilarious, and often moving flash-forwards) all while celebrating the importance of teamwork.

When other comedies were cynical or poking fun at the world around us, Parks was there to make a case for working hard at work worth doing, alongside a team of people you love. In the end, it argues, the world will be better for it, and so will you.

That idea is ultimately what people will remember most about the finale (though we’ve spent years dissecting whether Ben or Leslie was the President in 2048; we’ll call it a draw, assuming the two eventually both held the office at some point).

23. Person of Interest

Talk about a fitting series finale.

Person of Interest manages to close this chapter while giving hope that Team Machine would keep going strong. The Machine, still using Root’s voice, is alive and giving numbers to Shaw. You know she’s going to be teaming back up with Fusco; he can’t say no to Bear.

Then, there’s Reese. As heartbreaking as it is to see him die, this is the perfect way for him to go out — saving Finch’s life with The Machine right by his side until the very end. This mission with The Machine and Finch is what saved Reese, and so it only makes sense for Reese to return the favor.

Don’t even get us started on Finch’s heartfelt conversation with Reese, telling him how great of a friend he has become.

Their friendship is one of the highlights of the series, and while it’s no mystery as to how well the two of them get along, there’s something about hearing Finch put it into words that is so beautiful (and also makes you bawl your eyes out).

24. You’re the Worst

You’re the Worst is an anti-romcom romcom. Centered on immature narcissists Gretchen and Jimmy, two characters who sometimes are just the worst, it’s a messy, raw love story, so it follows that its finale doesn’t wrap up neatly with a white wedding. It simply wouldn’t be a choice true to Gretchen and Jimmy.

That’s the key word here: choice. There’s something beautifully delusional about promising you’ll love someone every day forever. Forever can feel dreamy to some, but it can also be an abstract, suffocating idea and ultimately, that gets to Gretchen and Jimmy.

That’s not to say the two don’t make promises of their own. They do. Having bailed on their formal wedding ceremony, they escape to a diner and over eggs and pancakes (a callback!), promise to wake up each day, and choose each other…until maybe one day they won’t.

Like Jimmy said early in the series, he and Gretchen are inevitable and based on the show, it seems unlikely that they’d actually walk away from each other, but they can (which might be the very reason that they are able to stay together).

25. VEEP

Foul mouthed and bombastic VEEP will go down as one of the funniest and prescient comedies of all time, and its finale is a work of art. VEEP is cynical about both America’s political landscape and power in general, and while its finale gets incredibly dark, its final message is one of optimism.

No one could mistake Selina Meyer for a woman of integrity, but she steeps to new lows, most notably betraying longtime aide, Gary. Moments before he’s arrested as the fall man for corruption within her foundation, she hugs him and says, “I couldn’t have done it without you.” It’s one time where she seems to express genuine sadness.

While she’s able to shake that off for her triumphant acceptance speech, that sadness creeps back once she’s in the Oval Office. Surrounded by strangers, it’s clear the experience isn’t nearly all she wanted it to be. The cost of power is high.

But there is hope! The closing sequence fast forwards to Selina’s funeral. Despite her wheeling and dealing, her legacy amounts to nothing; coverage of her funeral even gets overshadowed by breaking news of Tom Hanks’ death.

Her poisonous leadership is just a blip in America’s history.

It’s noteworthy that the two presidents elected in a post-Selina Meyer world, Kemi Talbot and Richard Splett, are characterized by their strong ideals and authenticity. There are Selinas in the world, but the institutions of America are stronger than one person and there can be people in power with pure purpose and intentions.

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What shows did we miss? What were your favorite series finales from the past decade? Sound off in the comments!

*Additional contributions by Erin Allen, Lauren Busser, Charles Henning, Allison Nichols, and Ariel Udel. 

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