People’s roundup revisits 18 TV finales that sparked debate, including Game of Thrones’ choice of Bran as king, Lost’s unresolved island mysteries, The Sopranos’ cut to black and How I Met Your Mother’s revelation that Tracy died before Ted returned to Robin.
Other examples include Seinfeld’s finale, which sent its central characters to jail; Dexter leaving his old life for a solitary existence as a lumberjack; Pretty Little Liars revealing Spencer’s twin Alex as the final tormentor; and Mad Men’s ambiguous ending with a Coca-Cola ad. Creator Matthew Weiner said Don had made the ad.
The people behind the shows offered differing views. Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse said there was no way to answer every open question and that the closing image of the plane wreckage was not meant to suggest the passengers had been dead all along. Seinfeld later said he sometimes regretted making the finale, while Sopranos creator David Chase said he disliked spoon-feeding viewers.
