Breaking Bad & 9 Other Alternate TV Endings That Almost Made It To Screen
How a TV show ends can make or break it in terms of how it is remembered by fans. Some have disappointing finales but a few had alternative endings.
A TV series can be made or broken with its ending. Some of the best television series, like Friends, are highly-remembered and re-watched by audiences because they offer a great sense of closure for fans. Other great television series, however, have been sadly lacking in anticipating what ending their fans would love to see.
Either way, alternate TV endings have the capacity to have made a series finale perfect or to ruin it. Alternate endings are also a fun way for audiences to imagine how else a storyline could have ended, either with as much drama as possible or by tying up some of the loose ends. Fans today love alternate endings, sometimes going so far as to create their own.
Breaking Bad: Everyone Dies
Breaking Bad’s famous ending follows Walter as he attempts to rescue Jesse, who is being held hostage by Todd and Jack. The groundbreaking show’s ending is particularly poignant because Walter accepted that he would die, so he attempts to rescue the person he always loved as a son.
There were many alternate endings for Breaking Bad. Creator, Vince Gilligan, said that one possible ending was for every major character to die. Another alternate ending saw every major character dying apart from Walter, but Gilligan rejected it, describing it as “very much a kick-in-the-teeth kind of ending.”
Game Of Thrones: Jon Kills The Night King
Game Of Thrones had a controversial series ending that left many fans unsatisfied. In the end, Arya Stark killed The Night King at the Battle Of Winterfell. During the filming of the final season, producers shot multiple endings to make sure that the real ending was not leaked. Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen said in a 2018 interview, said: “I think they’re filming a bunch of stuff and they’re not telling us. I’m being serious. I’m being deadly serious. I think that they don’t even trust us.”
Clarke also confirmed that Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow, was told in season three that he would be the one to kill the Night King, fulfilling the prophecy of “The Prince That Was Promised.”
Seinfeld: The Jury Votes Not Guilty
The much-hated finale of Seinfeld found the main cast in court, as every character the characters had wronged showed up to testify against them. They are then sentenced to prison after the overwhelming testimony against them.
In the alternate ending included in Seinfeld home releases, the jury, upon hearing all this testimony, reaches a “Not Guilty” verdict. There’s no follow-up on what happens to the cast after they are judged not guilty, providing absolutely no closure for fans of the show.
Sex And The City: Carrie Leaves Both Men
Sex And The City creator, Darren Star, disclosed his displeasure at the series’ conventional ending in a 2016 interview when he said: “I think the show ultimately betrayed what it was about, which was that women don’t ultimately find happiness from marriage. Not that they can’t. But the show initially was going off script from the romantic comedies that had come before it. That’s what had made women so attached.”
In the series’ DVD extras, two alternate endings were included. In one, Carrie marries Aleksandr Petrovsky. In another, Carrie reunites with her friends in New York and tells them that she chose neither Aleksandr nor Mr. Big.
3rd Rock From The Sun: Dick Abducts Mary
3rd Rock From The Sun shot an alternate ending in case the network chose to produce a seventh season. In the original ending, Mary, who had previously said she would like to go with Dick to his home planet, suddenly changes her mind, claiming that she cannot leave Earth and everything she knows. Dick then says goodbye to Mary, then wipes her memory, so that she won’t be heartbroken by her memories of him.
In the alternate ending, he reappears naked beside Mary and asks her to come with him anyway. Mary has no memory and is petrified. She screams, “alien abduction,” just she is beamed up with Dick.
Dexter: Dexter Is Killed
Like Game Of Thrones and Seinfeld, Dexter also left fans unhappy with its series finale. The much-hated ending shows Dexter abandoning his girlfriend and her son, and driving his boat into the hurricane. He survives the storm and chooses a new career as a lumberjack. John Goldwyn, the show’s producer, said in a 2013 interview, “They won’t let us kill him. Showtime was very clear about that. When we told them the arc for the last season, they just said, ‘Just to be clear, he’s going to live.'”
Screenwriter for seasons one to four, Clyde Phillips also chipped in on his own planned ending for the show in an interview in the same year: “They’re just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery. And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed.” Last year, Showtime revived the series for a limited series, explaining why they refused to kill off the character for the series finale.
How I Met Your Mother: Ted Lives Happily Ever After
How I Met Your Mother‘s finale remains one of television’s most hated series finales. The depressing finale finally reveals the Mother referred to in the show’s title and reveals the final key moments in the lives of the main characters. Robin and Barney are revealed to have divorced, with Barney experiencing the birth of his first child, and Lily and Marshall have had their third child.
Ted had met the mother of his children, but she had then passed away. He is still in love with Robin and successfully reunites with her. In the alternate ending, however, the Mother, Tracy, does not die but lives happily ever after with Ted.
Pretty Little Liars: Alex Got Away With It
Pretty Little Liars ended when it revealed that Troian Bellisario was A.D, Alex Drake, Spencer’s long-lost identical twin, who had kidnapped Spencer and Ezra. She planned to steal Spencer’s fiancé, friends and life before she was ultimately caught. Troian Bellisario, who played Spencer Hastings, said in a 2017 interview:
“Originally the ending was supposed to be a little bit different where Alex had kind of gotten away with it a little bit more, and the only person that was onto her was Toby. But I think that ultimately would’ve left things too much up in the air and we would’ve been worried for Spencer. So it was really fun because this way, Spencer got a happy ending, and all the girls got a happy ending, and Alex got to be with her family – which is great, but also in a little bit of a tricky situation,”
Gossip Girl: Eric Is Gossip Girl
The entirety of Gossip Girl revolved around finding out who Gossip Girl actually is. It was revealed that Dan Humphrey was Gossip Girl all along, although this revelation did not make much sense. This was because the New York Post leaked the secret of who the original Gossip Girl was, Eric, prompting writers to change the finale.
Executive producer, Joshua Safran, explained in 2017:
“I always thought it was Eric until the end of season two, and I even guided it that way, but when the New York Post revealed it was Eric — and I still don’t know how that happened, I think they were just guessing — and we realized we couldn’t go down that road anymore, so we abandoned him.”
The Vampire Diaries: Both Brothers Die
The heartbreaking conclusion of The Vampire Diaries ends with Stefan dying. Before he died, he was able to say goodbye to Elena, and send his love to his wife, Caroline. But the alternate ending was much different because it was created for a season two ending since the creators believed that the show would be unsuccessful. Co-creator, Kevin Williamson, said:
“The big finale episode that we had always planned did not happen because the show was successful and lasted eight years. When all is said and done, when this show is over, both brothers should die in the name of saving their girl and then be watching her like ghosts — because we had introduced the Other Side — as she went off into the sunset to live her life and maybe marry Matt Donovan or maybe become a doctor.”
