The Most Iconic TV Series Finales

The 2013 finale of AMC's drug drama Breaking Bad ended as many suspected it would, with high school science teacher-turned-kingpin Walter White (Bryan Cranston) dead on the ground, but not before he tied up many of his loose ends. Before heading out on his final mission, Walter admits to his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) that his life as a kingpin was not for his family, as he so often insisted, but for his own selfish gain. He leaves her with the coordinates to find Hank (Dean Norris)'s body and takes one last look at his children.

Walter frees his former partner Jesse (Aaron Paul) from his role as a slave laborer to rival dealers by rigging an M60 machine gun with a remote trigger when he goes to meet with the gang. The ensuing gunfire wounds Walter but Jesse is able to escape. Finally, Walter returns to his meth lab, collapsing to the floor and succumbing to his injuries as police rush in to find his lifeless body.

The 2011 finale of Friday Night Lights, NBC's hard-fought series about high school football in Texas, began like many of their season closers, focused on the team's championship game. However, during the all-important last play of the game, the show flashes forward one year to Philadelphia, showing that Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) gave up his coaching career in Texas to coach a smaller, less-prestigious program so that his wife Tami (Connie Britton) could follow her dreams instead.

The show's finale didn't leave fans hanging, wrapping up story lines for favorite characters, leading them towards their lives beyond high school football and confirming, with a shot of a new scoreboard being erected in Texas, that the East Dillion Lions were indeed the state champions. 

ABC's supernatural adventure series Lost ended in 2010, explaining the show's "flash-sideways" effect by way of revealing that the plane crash in the series premiere killed all passengers aboard and the island inhabited by the "survivors" was a kind of purgatory. The audience sees Jack Shepard (Matthew Fox) realize this as he fights his final battle to save the island from the Man in Black (Terry O'Quinn).

Within the flash-sideways, Jack meets his fellow survivors in a church, all of whom remember their time on the island together. The episode then cuts back to the island, ending as Jack, finally victorious, lays down to die, closing his eyes in a mirror image to the series premiere. 

Perhaps one of the most controversial series endings in television history, HBO mob drama The Sopranos concluded in 2007 with the Soprano family gathering at Holsten's for a meal. As Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" plays on the juke box, Tony, Carmela and A.J. discuss the "good times" and eat onion rings as a suspicious man in a Members Only jacket eyes their table.

The scene seems to be building tension, focusing on the restaurant's variety of guests. The suspicious man walks past Tony to go into the bathroom, but the mob boss pays him no mind. Finally, as Meadow Soprano enters the restaurant, Tony looks up, and the scene cuts to black on the lyrics "don't stop." After ten seconds of black, the credits roll. 

The 2006 West Wing finale showcases the inauguration of new President Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) and hence, the final days of Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen)'s presidency. Former staffers Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) and Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) return to the White House helm the new administration and Bartlet, in his last act as President, pardons long-time staffer Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff).

The episode's final scene shows Bartlet flying home in Air Force One for the last time. First Lady Abbey Bartlet (Stockard Channing) inquires into her husband's thoughts, and the former President replies that he is thinking about "Tomorrow."

The 2005 series finale of the HBO show about the Fisher family and their funeral home breaks from the show's tradition and begins with a birth instead of a death. The family mourns recently-deceased eldest son Nate (Peter Krause), while celebrating his newborn daughter and the memory of his life. Ultimately, it is Nate's memory inspires his younger sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose) to move away start a new life in New York.

The show's memorable final scene intercuts Claire driving out of Los Angeles with flash-forwards to pivotal moments in her family members' lives, ultimately showing each of their deaths. The series finally ends as Claire dies of old age at 102.

The 2004 Friends finale provided closure for the show's six main characters, while setting them all up for their new lives beyond the Central Perk coffee house. After ten seasons, Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) are finally back together, Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox) are moving to the suburbs with their new baby twins, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) is recently married, and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is headed for his spin-off sitcom.

At the end of the episode, the six friends gather in Monica's apartment, remarking that they have all lived in the rent-controlled space at some point in their lives. Unsurprisingly, Chandler gets the last laugh of the show as the group drops off their keys and heads down the hallway. After Rachel suggests that the group get one last cup of coffee before going their separate ways, Chandler sarcastically quips, "Sure...Where?"

The 2004 series finale of HBO's New York City rom-com took place mostly in Paris and gave our favorite girls a lot of "finally!" moments. Charlotte finally gets a baby, Miranda finally reconciles with Steve, and Samantha finally gets serious about a man. Best of all, Mr. Big tracks Carrie down in the City of Lights and FINALLY says those three little words (Bonus "finally": After six seasons, we finally learn his first name!).

Two Sex and the City feature films may have continued the characters' storylines past this finale, but we'll always have Paris. 

The 1998 series finale of Jerry Seinfeld's "show about nothing" called back many of Seinfeld's most memorable characters to testify for and against Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer after the four are charged with violating a Good Samaritan law. Despite the best efforts of attorney Jackie Chiles, the characters are convicted of "doing nothing" and sent to jail. In the final scene of the series, Seinfeld is shown doing his typical stand-up comedy epilogue, only this time he's in an orange jumpsuit, performing for his fellow prisoners.

Legendary TV star Bob Newhart put his own spin on the series finale reveal on Newhart, and the 1990 episode is still regarded as one of the most memorable finales in TV history. In the finale, Newhart's character Dick Loudon is hit in the head by a golfball, which knocks him out. He wakes up as Dr. Robert Hartley, Newhart's character from his first television series The Bob Newhart Show, on The Bob Newhart Show set, and explains to his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette, reprising her role from The Bob Newhart Show) that he just dreamt about running an inn in Vermont, relaying the events of the Newhart series as nothing more than a dream.

One of the most unique finale reveals (and one that has been parodied countless times in the years since) was the 1988 series finale of NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere, which followed lives of doctors and interns at Boston's St. Elgius teaching hospital. At the end of the series' finale episode, the show flashes to an alternate reality where main character Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders) arrives home from his job in construction and attempts to connect with his autistic son Tommy, who focuses only on his toy snow globe. As the show ends, the camera zooms in on the snow globe, revealing that the building inside is St. Elgius, leading fans to theorize that the events of St. Elsewhere took place solely in the mind of Tommy Westphall.

"Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" was a two-and-a-half hour TV movie that served as the series finale for M*A*S*H, the iconic series about army doctors serving in the South Korea. The episode, directed by series star Alan Alda, chronicled the last days of the Korean War and the final moments of the beloved 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The finale is still one of the highest-rated television episodes of all time.

Throughout the episode, Alda's character Hawkeye teases his long-time friend B.J. Hunnicutt about B.J.'s inability to say "goodbye." The two share an emotional farewell, but it's not until Hawkeye boards a chopper to go home and leave the 4077th for the last time that he sees that B.J. left him a message. "Goodbye" is spelled out in large stones on the helipad.