Ambiguous endings can be used to great effect in storytelling, such as Inception's iconic ending that has bewildered and enticed fans for years who still attempt to answer its mysteries. When used appropriately, an ambiguous ending can keep an audience hooked on a TV show even long after it has finished.
However, some ambiguous endings are unplanned, such as when the show is canceled, and many plotlines have to be either dropped or hastily wrapped up, leaving audiences questioning their dedication to the show in the first place.
Before its untimely cancellation, The OA was a mystery-drama show that followed Prairie Johnson, a woman that was missing for seven years and returns suddenly with powers she didn't have before. Fans were disappointed to find that the show was canceled after two seasons, especially as it ended on a cliffhanger with many unanswered questions.
There are many things that will never make sense now that The OA is canceled, such as Khatun's entire character and Hap's map garden. The warped plot and strange twists and turns already confused some critics, but the ending being so abrupt and ambitious surely didn't help matters.
The X-Files follows FBI agent Mulder, a believer in the paranormal, and agent Scully, a skeptic that offers rational theories for the strange happenings they investigate. The series has a massive fanbase due to its intriguing subject matter and fantastic characters.
However, many episodes of the show end ambiguously, with Scully never really finding evidence of the paranormal and thus never becoming a believer. In addition, the series finale and subsequent movies barely tie up many of the mysteries that propelled the show, such as the impending alien invasion that was brought up but never referenced again.
Sam is a college dropout that discovers that his parents promised him, their firstborn son, to the Devil. He is employed as the Devil's bounty hunter, returning escaped souls back to Hell through the use of various weapons, which are made out of mundane items such as a vacuum cleaner or a boombox.
Plans for a third season of the show fell through when the CW canceled the show, leaving many unanswered questions and Sam's eventual fate unknown. The wingless angel, Steve, implies that he was acting on a "higher authority," but this authority is never made known and various relationships are never explored, namely between Sam and Andi and Ben and the demon, Nina.
Game of Thrones oversees the battles between the ruling houses of Westeros, their leaders each competing to see who will win the right to sit on the Iron Throne. Fans of Game of Thrones now know the show for its infamously bad ending, which ruined many characters' motivations and rushed its finale to hastily - and arguably, poorly - tie up many loose ends.
In their haste to end the series, the writers scrapped plausible alternate endings and dropped many plotlines, such as Arya's faceless assassin skills, leaving many fans in the dark about how these things even mattered in the first place. Perhaps the new prequel series, House of the Dragon, will wrap up some of the dropped plotlines, or at least reference them in a way that satisfies fans.
The Sopranos was a beloved crime-drama show about Tony Soprano, a mobster trying to balance family life with his criminal organization. Tony's mafia accomplices and rivals cause trouble throughout the series, putting Tony in harm's way and causing him to seek help from a therapist. The show was known for its brilliant characters and their development, as well as its portrayal of therapy, mental health, and family issues.
The show was, however, also known for its sudden and ambiguous ending. As Tony and his family happily eat at a diner, various mysterious characters can be seen hanging around, and the screen cuts to black before the audience can see what comes next. Fans have speculated for years what happened after the cut, whether Tony was shot or continued his day, unaware of the danger.
Hannibal is based on characters and plotlines from the Hannibal Lecter book series and follows psychiatrist Will Graham's relationship with the mysterious Dr. Lecter. Will works for the FBI to solve gruesome cases involving bodily mutilation and tries to get into the heads of the murderers to figure out their identity.
In the final episode of the show, Will and Hannibal work together to kill a murderer, then embrace and fall off a cliff together. It is not revealed in the show whether they survived, but fans have speculated since the airing of the episode that they may have survived since a post-credits scene reveals Du Maurier sat at a table set for three. NBC canceled the series in 2015, and while there have been rumors of a possible revival, it is unlikely that the show will be continued.
Based on Phoebe Waller-Bridge's incredible one-woman show, Fleabag follows a woman living in London as she deals with various aspects of her life, such as her sexuality and tumultuous family life. The protagonist, known to the audience as Fleabag but never named in the show, talks to the audience by breaking the fourth wall, commenting on various events as they happen.
The ending of the second and final season is left intentionally ambiguous, as Fleabag leaves the audience behind at a bus stop, shaking her head to tell us not to follow her anymore. Fleabag doesn't want us to know what happens next, asserting her independence and deciding to live her life among people that can actually speak to her, rather than a silent audience. While the audience doesn't know what happens to her after the camera stops recording, the ambiguity is what's best for Fleabag herself.
Lost is a supernatural drama show that gathered a huge fanbase over its six-season run. The story follows a group of plane crash survivors that find themselves on a mysterious island, which they must now survive on and try to understand. The mysteries wrapped up in both the island and the survivors kept fans speculating for years, trying to unravel their secrets.
Many plotlines were dropped in the final season, such as the bomb in season 5, Vincent the dog's appearances and disappearances, and the explanation of Walt's powers. The change in tone also confused fans, switching from science fiction to featuring heavy religious imagery. Many questions were never resolved, and many fans found the entire finale to be completely unsatisfying.
A great HBO Max action show to binge-watch, Watchmen follows detective Angela Abar as she investigates a murder in Oklahoma, uncovering the vigilantes operating in the shadows. One of the most powerful characters in the show is Calvin Abar, who is revealed to be a form of the omniscient Doctor Manhattan.
In the finale of the show, Angela breaks several eggs in an argument but later finds one of them unbroken. Remembering what Manhattan said about transferring his powers, she eats the egg and tries to walk on water, but the show ends before the audience sees if she succeeds. The mystery is tantalizing, but fans would love to see a continuation of the series exploring what would happen if Angela really did acquire such immeasurable power.
Once Upon a Time follows various fairytale characters who have become trapped in the real world, thanks to the Evil Queen's curse. Despite its huge fanbase, season 7 of Once was a letdown for fans, as it removed the core cast and replaced them with new, arguably less interesting characters. The soft reboot opened up more questions than it answered, introducing more curses and storylines than the show could reasonably handle.
Some fans felt that some Once Upon a Time characters had fitting endings, but the inclusion of the Wish Realm complicated matters and led to confusing paradoxes. But with the multitude of realms to keep track of, it makes sense that some plotlines were left unexplored or dropped altogether.
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