It’s a bittersweet truth that nothing good can last forever and the upcoming 2023 TV slate is proof of that.
Some of the most beloved series on streaming, cable, and network TV are singing their swan songs this year, bidding farewell to fans with final seasons that, while not entirely welcome, should hopefully bring with them satisfying conclusions to long-running storylines. There’s something to be said for going out on your own terms and many of the shows on this list — which we’ll likely be adding to as more streamers and studios revamp their TV lineups — are doing just that, saying goodbye on their watch and leaving the game on top.
Here’s a running list of all the series with planned endings in 2023 … so far.
Succession (HBO)
For the slime puppies and the tomlettes out there, the news that Succession plans for its fourth season to be its last is a particularly hard pill to swallow. The Roy siblings — Kendall, Roman, Shiv, and Connor — were just starting to band together to take down their tyrannical patriarch. We’ll have to wait until the show returns on March 26th to see if they can stop the sale of Waystar-Royco and finally put Logan in a nursing home where he belongs but no matter the outcome, a spin-off following Cousin Greg and Tom Wambsgams corporate adventures, tentatively titled “Executive Level Business Bros” has our full backing.
Barry (HBO)
A hitman pursuing a late-in-life career as an actor was always going to have an expiration date, especially when the bodies started dropping and the authorities closed in on Bill Hader’s mentally-unstable on-screen alter ego. Hader and his team recently announced that season four of the critically acclaimed series — which drops April 16th — will be its last and to be honest, we kind of saw it coming.
Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
Ted Lasso creator Jason Sudeikis warned us when he launched this comedy experiment — a show can be both funny and nice, what? — that our membership with the Diamond Dogs might be revoked after three seasons and the creative team behind the series has stuck to that so far. Before AFC Richmond and its mustachioed goofball say “Cheerio” fans will find out if the team can survive the Premier League and the now-villainous Nate Shelley.
The Crown (Netflix)
“We gave you Prince Charles breakdancing, what more do you want?” — The Crown creators, probably. In all seriousness, this show has delivered season after season of low-stakes, parasocial drama that titillated and tantalized the peasant masses, casting too-handsome actors to play Prince Harry’s dad and too-talented actress to serve as Princess Diana doppelgangers. The final season’s run date is yet to be announced but it’s likely to be its last, especially if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle keep churning out documentary tell-alls.
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
A dystopic future where women were enslaved and their wombs hijacked to birth the next generation of religious fanatics is a premise that’s only become more relevant as Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale has extended its run. Based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, this show expanded on the author’s idea, building a world where the suffering handmaidens — led by Elisabeth Moss’ June — rose up to challenge the patriarchy in increasingly violent ways. A happy-ever-after might not exist in Gilead, but a finale that satisfyingly wraps up this heavy drama has been promised when the show return for its final season this June.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video)
Judging by the cast’s Instagram posts celebrating the wrap of filming, season five of this Amazon Prime Video comedy is set to be the last time we see star Rachel Brosnahan on stage … doing stand-up … as her character Midge Maisel. But before the curtain call, Midge needs to grapple with her newfound fame, sort out her love life, and manage her expanding extended family. She’ll try to accomplish all that — and likely do so in hilarious ways — when the series returns, on April 15th.
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
The Hargreeves siblings have saved the world from no less than three potential doomsday events — some, admittedly, of their own making — so one could make the argument that they deserve a break. But, not before the superpowered family of misfits takes on one last adventure — with Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally’s help — that should land later this year with the show’s fourth and final season.
Cobra Kai (Netflix)
Wax on, wax off — or do whatever you need to do to cope with the news that this reboot is taking its final bow later this year. Old rivalries have fueled new wars, but the show has always held onto the spirit of the original film saga, so we have all the faith that the series finale will finish things the right way.
The Flash (CW)
When one Flash rises, another must fall. Somehow, the controversy magnet that is Ezra Miller is hanging onto his spandex to deliver DC’s Flash movie this year which we guess means that Grant Gustin’s time as the crime-solving speedster was always fated to end like this. Blockbuster plans be damned, we’re invested in seeing how the small-screen version of Barry Allen defends Central City from foes old and new in the show’s ninth and final season, which is airing now.
Manifest (Netflix)
When fans launched an international campaign to save this mystery drama, Netflix answered the call but, like the passengers on Flight 828, the show now has a death date. The second chapter of its final season is expected to be released sometime this year.
Mayans MC (FX)
This Sons of Anarchy spin-off has been steadily ramping up the drama in the biker clubhouse for a few seasons now, and the rising tensions within the Santo Padre charter should provide fans one last wild ride when season five drops in late 2023.
Never Have I Ever (Netflix)
This coming-of-age comedy from Netflix is set to grow up in its fourth and final season, streaming later this year.
Nancy Drew (CW)
The mystery of when this young-adult drama on the CW will end has been solved — it’s saying goodbye when its fourth season drops on May 31st.
Riverdale (CW)
Another teen drama graduating to (possible) rerun status is this genre-bending take on characters from the famous Archie comics. Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead Jones have survived serial killers, the Black Hood, parallel universes, organ-harvesting cults, and an explosion that gave everyone mutant abilities, but it’s the time jump back to the 1950s that might finally do them in. The show’s seventh and final season premieres on March 29th.
Servant (Apple TV+)
This psychological thriller from the messed-up mind of M. Night Shyamalan is currently in its fourth and final season on Apple TV+.
Snowfall (FX)
An underappreciated crime drama from FX, Snowfall has thrillingly recounted the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles for five seasons but its current run — season six — marks its last.
Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+)
Live long and prosper Patrick Stewart. We only got three seasons of the original Jean-Luc Picard piloting a spacecraft on Paramount + but it was worth it. The show’s final season is airing now.
Titans (HBO Max)
You can blame the loss of this DC comics series on the Warner Bros Discovery merger, but you can pay your respects when its fourth season airs later this year.
Sanditon (PBS)
Jane Austen never got to write a happy ending for Charlotte Heyworth and company but hopefully, the PBS period drama adapting her unfinished work can with its third and final season premiering on March 19th.
NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)
The final season of this long-running police procedural ends with its 14th season, which wraps on May 21st.
A Million Little Things (ABC)
This tear-jerking drama will make us reach for the tissues one last time when it says goodbye in its fifth season, which is airing now.
Mo (Netflix)
Hulu’s Ramy gave us Netflix’s Mo and Netflix’s Mo gave us plenty of laughs in its first season. Expect even more when the show returns for its final run sometime this year.
Fear The Walking Dead (AMC)
This zombie apocalypse spin-off is getting the kill shot with a two-part final season run that kicks off this May.
Doom Patrol (HBO Max)
See the Titans entry above for why this fantastic DC comics adaptation is getting the boot but enjoy the pure chaos these superpowered misfits create when the rest of the show’s fourth and final season drops later this year.
Carnival Row (Amazon Prime Video)
The fever dream of magical creatures existing alongside the human gentry in Victorian England is slowly fading, but you can still enjoy this fantasy drama as it’s currently airing its second and final season.
