2) Heroes
It is widely agreed that Heroes never again reached the heights of its first run in subsequent seasons. Still, we would have liked the show to have got a proper ending.
When it was cancelled after its fourth season, it ended on a real game-changer, as Claire’s healing powers were revealed to the world. This cliffhanger is particularly frustrating as it could have easily have been resolved in the follow-up show Heroes Reborn. However, that show’s catalyst was a terrorist attack rather than Claire’s public reveal. Naturally, this was because Hayden Panettiere elected not to return, but they still could have wrapped it somehow.
As it was, Reborn has also been cancelled after one season, and itself ended on a cliffhanger. Serves it right, really, for not bothering to resolve the last one.
1) Angel
While Buffy The Vampire Slayer got to end on a finale that summed up the show pretty much perfectly, its spinoff Angel was cancelled just when it had hit its stride. After the fifth season upped the stakes, Angel and his team ended the series in the midst of a battle against an army of demons for the fate of the world. The episode cut to the credits before we even found out if they won.
Fans were left aghast at this unresolved ending, even though creator Joss Whedon argued that it could be viewed as a summation of the show’s main theme; the never-ending fight against evil.
“Did I end it this way so that it could lead into an exciting sixth season? Yes,” he admitted. “But this is still a final statement, if that’s what it needs to be.”