It’s not always easy to end a series, so some shows opt to wrap things up with a feature-length movie. Many TV shows build up a lot of anticipation and mystery throughout the show’s duration, but not all of them get to resolve the loose ends before the series wraps up. Whether the series gets canceled after just a few seasons, or some storylines fade into the background, sometimes it’s helpful to have a movie to finish the story, or even follow another loose thread as a spin-off.
For some shows, the finale movie was planned alongside the final series, allowing for more coordination between the stories and when each is released, like with Prison Break. While others are forced to wait years before they can finally answer questions that remain after the series finale, like with Deadwood. Whatever the case, wrapping up the show with a movie is often a great way to complete a series and give loyal fans the closure they need from the original show.
10 Prison Break (2005 – 2009, 2017)
Prison Break: The Final Break (2009)
Prison Break initially ran for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The show was then canceled, but a movie was greenlit to be made and air just two months after the series finale. Prison Break: The Final Break was released in 2009, as a way to wrap up the show. However, the show eventually did get to make another season in 2017, which appears to have driven the final nail in the coffin, and ended the Prison Break series after it received negative reviews and the show was once again canceled.
9 Timeless (2016 – 2018)
The Miracle Of Christmas (2018)
Timeless ran for just two seasons after NBC canceled the show twice. Once, shortly after season 1 aired, but then the studio went back on the decision, and then again after season 2 concluded, before they then approved the filming of a two-part finale to air in December 2018. The two-part finale is essentially a made-for-TV movie as the episodes aired back to back on December 20, 2018. The finale managed to tie up many loose ends and give a lot of the characters a good send-off, while also leaving the door open for future stories to be told.
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8 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000 – 2015)
CSI: Immortality (2015)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is one of the most popular crime procedural shows ever made. The original series inspired many CSI spin-off shows which varied in levels of success, but the original show enjoyed 15 years on air before concluding. The show wrapped up its fifteenth season in February 2015, seven months before the two-hour series finale, subtitled Immortality was released. The finale sees the team solve one last big case before the department sees some big changes and the beloved characters go their separate ways.
7 Deadwood (2004 – 2006)
Deadwood: The Movie (2019)
Deadwood was a brief series that outlined the events of a small camp known as Deadwood as it grew and developed into a town in the 1870s. The show, created by David Milch, draws inspiration and frequently references real historical events around this town in South Dakota along with fictional elements. Despite winning numerous awards and praise, the show was canceled after three seasons and would not return for more than 10 years, when Deadwood: The Movie was finally released in 2019. The story picks up 10 years after the end of season 3 and wraps up the story neatly.
6 The Last Kingdom (2015 – 2022)
The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023)
Initially produced by the BBC, The Last Kingdom is a historical fiction series that moved over to Netflix after the first season and enjoyed five seasons in total. After the show concluded in 2022, a feature-length sequel was produced and aired in 2023 to conclude the story, titled Seven Kings Must Die. The show details a fictional history of the final years of England being ruled over by monarchs as they war with one another, attempting to wrestle power and unite the land under one leader. The film ends with a single ruler over a united England, completing the vision for the series.
5 Firefly (2002 – 2003)
Serenity (2005)
Firefly is a space western drama series by Buffy the Vampire creator, Joss Whedon. The show was canceled part way through the first season but went on to win awards and have strong sales when it was released on DVD, which helped Whedon secure a deal to produce a sequel movie with Universal Studios. Serenity essentially acts as a compressed season 2, expanding the story established in Firefly and further introducing the characters as they deal with struggles of life on their ship, navigating the politics and governance of the year 2517.
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4 Breaking Bad (2008 – 2013)
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
Breaking Bad is a spectacular series from Netflix with one of the most satisfying conclusions to a series of all time. Despite the ending perfectly wrapping up the narrative of Walter White, the series received a sequel spin-off that followed the adventures of Jesse Pinkman in El Camino. The movie perfectly replicates the gritty style and tone of the series and concludes Jesse’s story in a satisfying way after the explosive ending of Breaking Bad.
3 Dead Like Me (2003 – 2004)
Dead Like Me: Life After Death (2009)
A series created by Bryan Fuller, Dead Like Me deals with a group of grim reapers in Seattle, Washington. In the series, the main protagonist, George, dies and is given the role of a reaper, helping to escort souls from the world of the living to the land of the dead. Dead Like Me: Life After Death was a direct-to-DVD sequel released in 2009 and continues the story of the short series, picking up five years later. The film outlines a difficult transition as the reapers are unhappy with the new leadership.
2 Veronica Mars (2004 – 2006, 2019)
Veronica Mars: The Movie (2014)
Veronica Mars is a teen crime drama series where the titular lead, played by Kristen Bell, solves a variety of cases. The show had a dedicated fanbase, but with declining viewership, it was canceled after its third season in 2006. In 2013, Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas, the star of the show and the series creator, launched a campaign on Kickstarter in the hopes of raising enough money to fund the production of the Veronica Mars movie. They managed to more than double their $2 million goal and the film was then released in 2014. Hulu eventually funded a fourth season of the show in 2019, but since then, it appears the series has wrapped for good.
1 ALF (1986 – 1990)
Project: ALF (1996)
ALF follows the adventures of a fuzzy alien life form who crash lands on Earth and ends up staying in the home of a human family. The series took on a sitcom format, and when the series wrapped in 1990, the alien was last seen flying off into space before being captured by the Alien Task Force. It wasn’t until six years later, when a made-for-TV movie was released, that the story would be concluded. Gordon, the alien, is rescued and exposes nefarious government plans. He is then celebrated by humankind and granted the freedom to stay on Earth and make a life there.
