
There's nothing worse for a TV lover than spending years invested in a particular series only to make it to the series finale and be utterly disappointed by its ending. There are a lot of shows that are just so consistently good, intriguing, and complex that it's almost impossible to wrap them up neatly, and disappointment is inevitable. Ozark comes to mind, as does Dexter. We get it — we really do. But sometimes, fans have already decided what the ending should be before it happens, which only makes it worse when the show's writers and producers seem to ignore the obvious.
Lackluster, unsatisfying series finales are a problem. It's not even an uncommon problem. It happens all the time, and for some pretty major shows too. We just know it'll be the fate of Grey's Anatomy. We shudder just thinking about what a letdown that series finale will be.
Some series wrap-ups are so bad that the show actually gets a reboot years later to make up for it. To be honest, we get a little anxiety every time we tune into the finale of a beloved series — in part because we know how much we'll miss it, but also because sometimes you just know there's no way to wrap things up well in a single episode. Keep scrolling to see which shows fans think have the most disappointing series finales.
'Dexter'

The series finale of Dexter was just so un-Dexter-like. The former serial killer ends up faking his own death in a hurricane after unplugging his beloved sister from life support after she suffers a stroke that leaves her brain-dead. Then he moves to Oregon — abandoning his son — to become a lumberjack. Dexter's choices in the end defy everything we know about his character. It was such a disappointment to fans that the series ended up getting rebooted eight years later, allowing Dexter to finally get the only logical ending.
'Lost'

Lost had a two-part finale that left many die-hard fans with unresolved questions. The show had a very confusing storyline, and many things were left unexplained in its finale, which was a massive disappointment. The creators were accused of being lazy when they basically explained the events of the entire series as a kind of purgatory, after previously denying that was the case.
'Ozark'
After waiting for what felt like forever, fans ended up rating the Ozark finale the show's worst episode ever. What?! Yes, you read that right. A fan-favorite character is killed, and in the end we're left to believe the unthinkable has happened. We won't spoil it, but it's pretty shocking.
'Game of Thrones'

Fans were so disappointed in the Game of Thrones finale that they actually petitioned for it to be remade. There was battle and death in nearly every episode of the series, and yet, nothing terribly epic happens in the finale. It ties up the loose ends but in the most lackluster way.
'How I Met Your Mother'

It's so sad that How I Met Your Mother ended the way it did because it is arguably one of the best sitcoms ever made. Fans waited nine years to find out who the titular character was only to learn almost immediately after that she no longer existed. The excitement of it all was utterly diminished.
'True Blood'

Here's the thing: After following Sookie and Bill's love story for so long, we did not want to see True Blood end the way that it did. Some might even say it was devastating. They don't end up together, and Sookie winds up pregnant with a random man's baby? We didn't even get an explanation.
'Gossip Girl'
The absolute least suspecting character on Gossip Girl ends up being the infamous Gossip Girl. We're all for a plot twist, but this one just made no sense at all. There's no need to throw complete curveballs to fans just for the shock factor, and that's exactly what the writers did.
'X-Files'

The writers of the original X-Files seemed to be just going through the motions by the time they got to the series finale. They did their best to answer any lingering questions fans might have had, but they did so with a total lack of creativity, and the show's wrap-up just ended up being super boring.
'Pretty Little Liars'

Pretty Little Liars was such an amazingly suspenseful series. It kept fans guessing and utterly riveted for seven seasons, wondering who the heck "A" was. Turns out the answer came way out of left field and wrapped up the entire series more like an episode of a daytime soap opera than the gripping — and often terrifying — teen drama that it was.
'Scrubs'
Scrubs was inexplicably brought back for a ninth season after everyone thought it ended with season eight. The final season felt more like a beginning than an ending because it featured a slew of new castmembers, and many fan favorites weren't even regulars. Honestly, it just didn't make any sense.
'Two and a Half Men'
The creators of Two and a Half Men decided to keep going with the show even after it lost both of its main characters, and in the final season, there weren't even two and a half men anymore. Then the show decided to tastelessly make fun of itself and all of the behind-the-scenes drama involving actor Charlie Sheen — needless to say, fans were not happy.
'Roseanne'
A mainstay of the '80s and '90s, Roseanne was all about keeping it real. That is, until the final season when the working class family it depicted suddenly won the lottery. Oh, and then the writers also killed off a main character and pretended he was just a figment of someone else's imagination. The entire thing was totally out of touch with Roseanne's devoted fan base.
'Mad Men'

Don Draper deserved a better ending. We got Don kind of going off the edge as expected, but no real conclusions to many of the characters' stories. Not only that, but the final episode didn't even take place at the ad agency where most of the series was set.
'Will & Grace'

A lot of us who grew up watching sitcoms in the early oughties could define a best friendship by that of Will and Grace. And yet, we were left to believe that the two ended up in a fight that lasted for years and years. It's insulting. We knew these characters and we knew that nothing could ever keep them apart, so it was just all kinds of wrong.
'Felicity'
You can't just take a show that's not sci-fi at all and make it sci-fi in the last episode. You just can't. Somehow, the writers of Felicity decided to end the series by introducing time travel. It was utterly confounding. Oh, and there was some spell casting, too. We guess they had to give Felicity a way to start again … we guess.
'Girls'

The issue with the series finale of Girls is simply that it was missplaced. It likely would have been received much better if it had appeared somewhere in the middle of the season since it was mostly about a singular character instead of the group of friends whose fans had been following throughout the series.
'Seinfeld'

Despite the rude New Yorkers that the characters of Seinfeld were portrayed to be, we all loved them. We still do. So when Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer ended up in prison during the series finale, fans were far from thrilled. While it wasn't a totally unlikely conclusion, it was an entirely unwanted one.
'Killing Eve'

The BBC series Killing Eve came to a conclusion in 2022, so ending it by what fans have referred to as an attempt to "bury your gays" really hit the wrong note with a lot of viewers. Killing one of the main characters was a glaring departure from the ending of the book trilogy that the show is based on, and an unnecessary one to boot.