10 TV Characters Whose Fates Were Never Resolved

Some of television’s most famous characters were left with unresolved fates, leaving audiences to question what happened to them. These endings have occurred for various reasons. In the case of network shows like Friday Night Lights and Community, characters left the show in between seasons, resulting in confusion over dropped plotlines. In shows like Twin Peaks and The Sopranos, character endings were purposefully left vague, leaving the answers for the audience to engage with their own creativity and theories.

Many shows make an effort to wrap up every individual character’s storyline in their finale, like Ted Lasso, which utilized a closing montage to show where every character’s story was heading. An unresolved ending can leave audiences dissatisfied, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it varies in each case. Ambiguous endings provide audiences with discussion, elongating the relevance of a TV show long after it’s concluded.

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10 Jaqen H’ghar

Game Of Thrones

In many situations with the Game of Thrones narrative, the audience’s imagination outstretched what the series intended. Jaqen H’ghar was introduced as a mysterious figure, revealed to be a faceless assassin from Bravos. A common theory suggested Jaqen was actually Syrio Forel, Arya’s dancing master from season 1. However, after training with Jaqen for two seasons, Arya leaves, and the character is never heard from again. While the Syrio theory was always outlandish, the story of the Faceless Men, one of George R.R. Martin’s most inventive fantasy ideas, felt unfulfilling.

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9 Santiago

Friday Night Lights

As the worst Friday Night Lights season, season 2 is a mess for several reasons. The ending was cut short due to the 2007-08 Writers Guild strike, but the season’s narratives were sloppy to begin with. One such was that of Santiago; a significant character introduced who joins the Dillon Panthers team and forms a meaningful bond with Buddy Garrity. However, after season 2’s abrupt ending, Santiago disappears and is never heard from again. In fact, the character isn’t mentioned once in the three following seasons.

8 Flynn

Breaking Bad

At the end of Breaking Bad, Walter White realizes that his son will never accept the money that he’s built up and left for him. Flynn hates his father and is left with severe emotional trauma, but Walt has set up his future so that he’ll be left with money through a fund from Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz. How Flynn will spend his life is one of the biggest questions remaining after Breaking Bad, as the futures of characters like Saul and Jesse have been shown in other media.

7 Salvatore Romano

Mad Men

In a series filled with morally questionable characters, Salvatore Romano is one of the few sympathetic figures in the show. Sal was a closeted gay man living in the 1960s, working in an industry abundant with toxic masculinity. At the end of Mad Men season 3, Sal is fired from Sterling Cooper and never heard from again. While it’s unclear where Sal disappeared to, he likely continued to face difficulties in an era lacking social acceptance.

6 Troy

Community

Donald Glover’s Troy is a beloved character in the sitcom Community, whose story is seemingly resolved when he leaves to explore the world on his sailboat. Shortly after, the news is revealed that pirates kidnaped Troy, and, oddly, there’s never any follow-up. While it’s an amusing joke in a comedy series for a character to be “kidnaped by pirates” and just never be heard from again, audiences were left wondering about him.

5 Ben Linus

Lost

In a sense, most characters had ambiguous endings in Lost, as the finale’s meaning is up for interpretation. In terms of both his ending on the island and in the flash sideways, Ben’s fate is unresolved. On the island, Ben elected to stay behind with Hurley and use his experience and knowledge to help govern the island. In the flash sideways, Ben chose not to enter the church, suggesting he still had to work things out before he could “move on.” He did some terrible things as the leader of the Others, including incidentally causing his daughter’s death, and Ben’s spiritual ending is left ambiguous.

4 Thomas Shelby

Peaky Blinders

Technically, Thomas Shelby’s ending will be made more apparent in the Peaky Blinders movie. However, the TV show’s sixth season left viewers to interpret a subtle, symbolic conclusion for the character. He spends much of the season thinking he’s going to die before the twist ending reveals that his doctor was an associate of Sir Oswald Mosley. Once again living on what Tommy interprets as borrowed time, the Peaky Blinders finale poses questions about the moral path he’ll take with his re-purposed life.

3 Kendall Roy

Succession

Like with Peaky Blinders, Kendall Roy’s ending in Succession is left vague and subtle. Following the events of Waystar Royco’s CEO transfer, Kendall wanders Manhattan, accompanied by Colin. Staring out at the water, viewers are left to wonder what’s next for Kendall, whose inability to lead has lost him his father’s company, which he spent years believing he deserved. The defeat is an enormous blow to Kendall’s ego, as he’s missed out on the biggest and most important opportunity of his life.

2 Dale Cooper

Twin Peaks

Dale Cooper has not only one ambiguous ending but two, given that Twin Peaks returned after over two decades. In the original series finale, Cooper returned from the Black Lodge with Bob inside him, suggesting he’d become like Leland Palmer. In 2017’s The Return, the best Twin Peaks season, it takes a majority of the season for Cooper to return to the usual self that audiences know and love. However, shortly after, the Twin Peaks season 3 finale had an even more ambiguous ending, with infinite possibilities as to what had happened to him.

1 Tony Soprano

The Sopranos

The ending of The Sopranos is one of the most fascinating ongoing television conversations, as the series cuts to black, making it unclear whether Tony was whacked. Audiences have discussed Tony’s fate for decades, imagining the possibilities for his life. He could face prison time due to Carlo flipping, meaning he likely wouldn’t have had a happy ending. Several clues in The Sopranos finale prove that Tony died, which showrunner David Chase confirmed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Still, the show’s ending is made to be ambiguous, and audiences can interpret it as they wish.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter