These are the 10 strongest TV series finales that aired from October 4, 2021, through October 4, 2026, ranked by character payoff, thematic fit, emotional force, and how well each ending serves the series as a whole. The order is an editorial judgment, not an industry consensus: critics’ lists cover different years and apply different standards. This list includes only shows that ended, not season finales of series that continued.
How this ranking works
A series finale is a show’s final episode; a season finale can close a season while the series continues. This ranking applies one rule across the full period: the show’s final episode must have aired within the stated five-year window. The A.V. Club’s 2022 roundup ranked finales by how well they wrapped up their series and excluded shows canceled without notice, while TVLine’s 2024 feature focused on shows announced as ending before the relevant season aired. Neither source covers the same period or uses precisely the same inclusion rules as this list.
The order weighs character choices, thematic fit, emotional effect, purposeful closure or ambiguity, and payoff across the full series. Comedy, drama, and genre television need not deliver the same kind of ending to succeed.
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1. Better Call Saul — “Saul Gone”
“Saul Gone” makes its final turn a question of identity, not simply whether Jimmy McGill can escape the consequences of his life as Saul Goodman. The series’ prequel timeline gives the choice extra weight: viewers know the world Jimmy’s story must eventually join, so suspense comes less from surprise than from watching him decide what kind of person he will be when the moment arrives.
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The finale’s quieter approach suits a show built on incremental compromises and consequences. TVLine ranked it first in its 2020s finale list, and The A.V. Club also placed it first among its 2022 series finales. That agreement makes it the clearest top pick here, though neither list is a definitive cross-industry verdict.
2. Succession — “With Open Eyes”
The boardroom climax turns the Roy siblings’ familiar mix of intimacy and rivalry into a final, irreversible choice. Their connection remains real, but it cannot overcome each person’s appetite for power and self-preservation. The outcome is bleak, yet that is part of its fit: an ending need not be happy to feel true to the show.
TheWrap described Succession as four seasons and 39 episodes in 2023. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% Tomatometer score from 34 reviews for “With Open Eyes” in its 2023 coverage; that is a dated review snapshot, not a measure of audience satisfaction or a permanent score. The Atlantic’s Shirley Li, quoted there, called it “An equal parts hilarious, repulsive, and sensational end to one of the most enthralling series of our era.”
3. Reservation Dogs — “Dig”
“Dig” understands that closure does not require every strand of a story to be tied into a neat bow. The series lets its central journey reach its natural end before the final episode, then gives the characters and audience room to register what that completion means. The result feels earned rather than abrupt.
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4. Derry Girls — “The Agreement”
The finale connects the private futures of its young characters to a public turning point in Northern Ireland. Its voting montage, set to the Cranberries’ “Dreams,” makes the stakes of the Good Friday Agreement personal without flattening the comedy or turning the characters into symbols. The Chelsea Clinton coda adds a final, characteristically playful note.
The A.V. Club singled out the montage and coda in its 2022 ranking. The episode’s emotional force comes from holding two truths together: the girls are still becoming themselves, and history is moving around them.
5. Atlanta — “It Was All a Dream”
“It Was All a Dream” does not try to decode every surreal turn the series has taken. Instead, it trusts the show’s long-standing refusal of conventional answers. That ambiguity can frustrate viewers looking for a single explanation, but here it feels like a continuation of the series’ tone rather than a late attempt to dodge resolution.
The A.V. Club praised that fit in its 2022 finale list. Atlanta shows that an ending can deliver thematic completion without explaining every mystery.
6. Barry — “wow.”
“wow.” is a deliberately challenging entry: it offers a final reckoning, but not the easy catharsis some viewers may want from a story about violence, guilt, and performance. Its uneasy emotional register is part of its distinction. The finale has strengths, yet its muted quality can make the conclusion feel less satisfying than the journey that led to it.
Rotten Tomatoes’ 2023 roundup included a critic who found the ending oddly muted despite the episode’s strengths. That mixed response is useful context for a ranking that values ambition and tonal fit without pretending every bold ending lands equally well for every viewer.
7. Ted Lasso — “So Long, Farewell”
“So Long, Farewell” gives the characters meaningful decisions and preserves the show’s optimism, but its place on a series-finale list requires a qualification: whether season three was intended as the end of Ted Lasso was a point of uncertainty in contemporary coverage. This ranking treats the episode as the series’ closing chapter for the purpose of comparison, while recognizing that its finality was less straightforward than that of an explicitly concluded story.
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TIME’s fan-critic debate captured disagreement over the character resolutions and the show’s hopeful tone. That division reflects the finale’s balancing act: offer emotional closure while leaving room for viewers to wonder whether the characters’ stories are truly over.
8. This Is Us — “Us”
“Us” is included as a major 2022 series ending, though the available episode-specific commentary offers less support for a precise comparative placement than it does for the entries above. Its inclusion acknowledges the finale’s place in a year of prominent television sendoffs; its lower position reflects the thinner basis for judging exactly how its final episode pays off the full series.
The A.V. Club included the finale in its 2022 list of series endings. That establishes it as part of the year’s finale conversation, but not as a direct comparison on every criterion used here.
9. Better Things — “We Are Not Alone”
Better Things also appears in The A.V. Club’s 2022 finale ranking. The episode belongs on a list of notable endings from the period, but the episode-specific argument available in that coverage is limited, so a higher placement would claim more certainty than the evidence supports.
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10. What We Do in the Shadows — “The Finale”
The final season of What We Do in the Shadows drew praise from TVLine for its comedy and character moments. That assessment concerns the season overall, not a direct score for the finale episode, so it supports the show as a candidate rather than proving the finale is stronger than every show below it or above it.
The episode earns a place as a comedy sendoff among the period’s candidates, with the important distinction that season-wide praise and finale-specific judgment are not interchangeable.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why these endings land in different ways
A satisfying ending is not necessarily a happy one, and a resolved plot is not the only route to closure. “With Open Eyes” embraces a bleak outcome that fits Succession; “It Was All a Dream” makes ambiguity part of Atlanta’s design; “Dig” finds closure in recognizing that a journey has reached its end. The best measure is whether the finale’s choices and tone belong to the show that came before it.
Rankings also change with the criteria. A list that prizes neat resolution may favor different endings than one that prizes tonal consistency, surprise, or emotional discomfort. Critics’ aggregate scores can be useful context, but they are snapshots: the Rotten Tomatoes figure cited for Succession reflects 34 reviews at the time of its 2023 report, not a timeless or audience-wide verdict.
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