5 Shows Ending After Next Season
Television lovers know the pain of a canceled series, but it’s nearly as difficult to bid farewell to shows going out on their own terms. Unlike canceled TV shows, those ending of their own volition at least get to tie up loose ends. That doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier. And viewers will need to brace themselves for these five shows ending, as they’re all coming to a close after their next season.
‘Stranger Things’ ending with season 5
Stranger Things Season 5 will mark the end of the beloved Netflix series, bringing all the adventures in Hawkins and the Upside Down to a close. Season 4 set the stage for a dark and epic finale, with the show bringing its main cast together for one last showdown with Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
There are still plenty of questions to answer heading into Stranger Things Season 5. Will’s (Noah Schnapp) connection to the Upside Down and Max’s (Sadie Sink) current state will likely play major roles. And from the sound of it, things could get pretty emotional.
“We do have an outline for season 5 and we pitched it to Netflix and they really responded well to it,” creator Matt Duffer told TheWrap. “I mean, it was hard. It’s the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I’ve never seen cry before and it was wild.”
Stranger Things Season 5 doesn’t have a release date window yet, but David Harbour guessed we could see it by “mid-2024.”
‘Dead to Me’ to end with season 3
Netflix’s Dead to Me didn’t get quite as long a run as Stranger Things, but the show is ending with season 3. Netflix revealed as much on Twitter in July. And creator Liz Feldman told Deadline that she always felt a shorter run would be best for the series:
“I always knew from the inception of the show that I didn’t want it to be a long long-running show. Then there was a certain point when we were in production on season 2 when the end of the show came to me, pretty profoundly, so I realized, ‘I know the story that I have to tell’ and Season 3 feels like the right time to do that.”
There’s no release date for Dead to Me Season 3, but according to TV Insider, the end is nigh. The show will return for its last hurrah this fall. Fans should keep their eyes peeled for further details as we approach the coming television season.
‘Riverdale’ is ending after season 7 on The CW
The CW announced a slew of cancellations earlier this year. But even some of the network’s shows that weren’t axed are ending with their next season — teen drama Riverdale included.
Riverdale is known for its increasingly bizarre storylines, but it looks like the Core Four will only get one more outlandish adventure on the small screen. This isn’t too surprising, as the show has run out of teen years to cover. Fans have been waiting for Riverdale to wrap things up for a while now. And if the series needs to end, at least we got our Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossover beforehand.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Riverdale fans can expect the final season sometime in 2023. After that, we’ll have to hope another wild teen drama crops up. (It probably won’t be the same, though.)
‘Never Have I Ever’ will receive a fourth and final season
Riverdale isn’t the only teen drama we’ll have to say goodbye to in the next year or so. Netflix’s Never Have I Ever hasn’t returned for season 3 yet, but the third outing arrives on Aug. 12. After that, the show will get a fourth outing, which will serve as the series’ final season on the streaming platform.
In a Twitter statement posted back in March, Never Have I Ever lead Maitreyi Ramakrishnan shared that the cast was getting ready to film the series finale. Bidding farewell to Devi and her classmates will no doubt be bittersweet. But hopefully, she’ll get her happy ending before the show is through — whether it’s with Paxton (Darren Barnet), Ben (Jaren Lewison), or herself.
‘His Dark Materials’ Season 3 will conclude Lyra’s journey
His Dark Materials fans have been waiting for HBO to reveal a release date for season 3. But perhaps it’s not so bad that the next season has been delayed — after all, it will serve as the fantasy show’s ending. And even though we’re eager to get to the final chapter in Lyra’s (Dafne Keen) story, we’re not as antsy to say goodbye.
His Dark Materials Season 3 will adapt the final book in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, answering our questions about Lyra’s journey and the prophecy that prompted it. With Pullman writing spinoffs, it’s possible we’ll see additional content set in this world one day. However, according to the show’s Twitter, the next batch of episodes will serve as “the final chapter” for this series. It’s exciting, but it’s also bittersweet.
