Feel like pure rubbish, just want them back(Picture: REX / AMAZON)
My Lady Jane fans have been left gutted after Amazon decided to drop the title after just one series, leaving us forever wondering how her life turns out after she escaped a beheading.
This is far from the first example of times audiences have been left on eternal cliffhangers – no wonder we have trust issues!
Becoming obsessed with a TV show only for it to end while you have more questions than answers is a frustrating experience.
Every series can’t run forever, but there a few that definitely deserved their final lap of honour (as did the fans who committed hours of their lives to the characters).
Here a few programmes that ended unexpectedly, and so unfortunately weren’t able to tie everything up in a nice bow…
Angel (1994-2004)
Angel ended despite its popularity (Picture: Frank Ockenfels/Warner Bros Tv/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s spin-off series Angel didn’t experience a decline in ratings before its cancellation so the choice was a shock to many.
Network politics meant that after five series, fans could no longer watch Angel (David Boreanaz) help people with their supernatural-related problems.
Although, in this particular case, creators did know that it would come to an end, they still decided to leave viewers on a cliffhanger.
While preparing to go into battle with a team of monsters, Angel tells his team: ‘Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon. Let’s go to work.’ The open ending means that audiences can imagine how things would have turned out, but a firmer resolution may also have been preferable for some.
How I Met Your Father (2022-2023)
We may never know how she met their father (Picture: Hulu/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
How I Met Your Father’s premise revolves around a parent explaining to their children how they came to meet their dad.
It was a spin-off to How I Met Your Mother which sees Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor)’s early adulthood play out, and explains how it all led to Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti). After dropping hints across nine seasons, we finally meet her in the final episodes – it’s the ultimate pay-off for sticking with the narrative (although not everyone agrees with the choices).
Those who tuned into How I Met Your Father for a similar reward would be bitterly disappointed, as the Hilary-Duff-led TV show ended after just two seasons, meaning the identity of the titular character will never be revealed!
My Name is Earl (2005-2009)
Earl Hickey never got to complete his list (Picture: NBC Universal, Inc.)
The titular character played by Jason Lee realised that if he stopped doing bad things then his life might suck less, and so he begins to right wrongs and let karma do his thing.
Over four seasons, he worked his way through a list of everything naughty he’d ever done, trying to get forgiveness and contribute more positively to the world.
RIP Earl Hickey, you would have loved spiritual TikTok and the rise in manifestation books.
Of course, a few plot twists were thrown into his path, and none came bigger than the series four finale when Earl discovered he was ex-partner Joy’s son Dodge’s biological father. The finale also revealed that who Earl Jr thought his father was – Darnell – was not his biological dad. However, as it was cancelled we do not find out who actually is the father, and so missed out on a second: ‘I am your father’ a la Star Wars. We were robbed.
The OA (2016-2019)
So many aspects are now unexplained (Picture: Nicola Goode/Netflix/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
After going missing for seven years, a previously blind Prairie (Brit Marling) returned to her adoptive parents with her eyesight intact – telling a small group the story of how she was kidnapped by scientist Dr. Hunter Aloysius ‘Hap’ Percy (Jason Isaacs).
The show’s creators planned for The OA to be a five-part story told in five seasons, which would have given them the chance to introduce a meta-twist.
However, it was cancelled after two series, leaving fans with nothing but an unexplained ending – Prairie and Hap find themselves in a third dimension, which is the soundstage of a TV show.
Creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij were offered a movie to tie up the loose ends, but rejected as they would have preferred a third season.
Shadow and Bone (2021-2023)
Shadow and Bone ran from 2021 to 2023 (Picture: Netflix/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
Netflix was heavily criticised for cancelling Shadow and Bone after it was revealed to be one of the streaming service’s most popular programmes (it was the streamer’s 26th most show from January- June 2023).
Starring Jessie Mei Li as the protagonist Alina Starkov opposite Ben Barnes as the menacing General Kirigan. The finale ends with Nikolai Lantsov (Patrick Gibson) becoming the king of Ravka with Alina only just discovering her shadow-summoning abilities, and fans naturally wanted to see how that would have played out.
As a small consolation, the series is based on fantasy books by author Leigh Bardugo, so the fate of the characters lives on in the written word.
1899 (2022)
1899 poster (Picture: Netflix)
The mysterious series starring Emily Beecham (Maura Franklin) and Aneurin Barnard (Eyk Larsen), follows a group of European migrants travelling from London on a steamship named Kerberos to start new lives in New York City.
But their odyssey takes an unexpected turn when they discover another migrant ship adrift on the open sea.
An intriguing plot twist – the ship Kerberos is a simulation – in episode eight left viewers desperate for confirmation over a second series, but it never came.
Lockwood & Co. (2023)
It was over before it began (Picture: Netflix/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
This supernatural thriller, set in an alternate Britain where teenage ghost-hunters are called in to protect adults from deadly spirits, made its debut in January 2023.
It was a crying shame for fans who got attached quickly to Lockwood & Co., as it suffered from the one series curse.
The leader Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) opens a previously locked door, that was set to explain more about his past. However, viewers never got to see what was behind it as series two never came.
The Midnight Club (2022)
The Midnight Club only got one series (Picture: Netflix/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
While it was written to play out over several seasons, The Midnight Club was cut short after just one season.
Set in a hospice, the show follows eight terminally ill young adults who form ‘the Midnight Club’ and meet up each night to tell each other scary stories.
One night the group make a pact that the first one to succumb to their disease will be responsible for communicating with the others beyond the grave and after that happens, bizarre occurrences begin.
In the final scene, Dr. Stanton (Heather Langenkamp) hourglass tattoo – a symbol of the Paragon, a historic death cult – is unveiled, as she explains how she is a former member of the cult.
Creator Mike Flanagan said that: ‘It was very much designed to continue’.
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