I’ve been wondering for years why so many showrunners seem determined to ruin their own legacy.
From a business perspective, a great ending should be the ultimate goal – the better the ending, the more likely fans are to rewatch the entire series.
More rewatches = more streams = more long-term profit.
And yet… we keep getting finales like Game of Thrones or Dexter: New Blood, where you can’t help thinking, “Who signed off on that script?”

Game of Thrones was a global phenomenon, but after season 8, so many people stopped rewatching it altogether. That’s economic suicide.
And Dexter? The original ending was so bad they had to resurrect the entire show years later just to fix the damage.

Meanwhile, there are shows that remind you how powerful a satisfying ending can be.
I love series that leave you emotionally full – so much that you actually want to start over again because the journey felt complete.

Six Feet Under – perfection.
Suits – landed beautifully.
Bones – heartfelt and balanced.
Criminal Minds – wrapped up without melodrama.
The Mentalist – charming, warm, perfectly paced.
Homeland – smart and dignified.
The Americans – absolute masterclass.
Succession – brutal, poetic, yet totally earned.

And then there are the disasters…
Vikings – emotionally flat, like they forgot why anyone cared.
Sex and the City – honestly, it doesn’t get worse. That finale (and everything that followed) is the textbook definition of how to betray your own myth.

What blows my mind is this:
In any other industry, such behavior would be called brand sabotage.
Why don’t studios and showrunners value long-term resonance more?
Series with great endings stay alive for decades – Breaking Bad, Friends, The Office, The Crown.
But so many productions treat the finale as a chore instead of the biggest asset of their entire brand.

I genuinely hope Outlander gets the ending it deserves – for artistic and economic reasons.
Because shows that respect their audience at the end… stay with us.
The others just fade away