2023 is a notable year for media, as it will mark the end of many high-profile television series. Every year sees television series canceled or shows come to an end, but there is a surprising number of fan favorite and critically acclaimed hit series that will conclude in 2023.
Series like The Crown and The Umbrella Academy are also set to end with their upcoming seasons, but no release date has been set for either, so it is entirely possible they will conclude in 2024 alongside other series like Star Trek: Discovery and Outlander. Yet, notably, all of these series have been confirmed to wrap up, giving the creatives time to craft their stories and audiences time to prepare themselves for the end. With that in mind, these are 10 of the biggest series set to end in 2023 that have been confirmed so far.
10 The Blacklist
Who would have guessed that when The Blacklist premiered on NBC in 2013 that it would run for ten seasons? Yet after all this time it has and has been one of the network's biggest hits being NBC's choice for the coveted post-Super Bowl timeslot in 2015 and getting a spin-off series with The Blacklist: Redemption.
The series shaped past its original premise in season eight, and followed the death of one of The Blacklist's central characters with season nine and the recently premiered ten wrapping up their own unique storyline. Worth noting is that The Blacklist premiered just one month after James Spader was announced as the voice of Ultron in the MCU, and even long after Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Blacklist is arguably the actor's most iconic role of the 2010s.
9 Snowfall
Originally set up at Showtime, Snowfall was picked up by FX and premiered in 2017 where it has quietly run for six great seasons. The network announced early on that season six would be its last and has put it front and center in the marketing. The series revolves around the first crack epidemic in Los Angeles during the 1980s.
The series is also one of the last major projects from legendary filmmaker John Singleton, who created the show. Singleton passed away on April 28, 2019, just three months before season three aired. Snowfall retains the spirit of one of cinema's brightest voices, which makes it worthy of watching alone, and with its conclusion will mark the end of an era.
8 Doom Patrol
Warner Bros. is shaking up its DC division with the recent appointment of James Gunn and Peter Safran to heads of DC Studios. Many previously running series have been canceled including Titans and Pennyworth, but the biggest shock and loss is Doom Patrol. Doom Patrol premiered on the streaming service DC Universe in 2019 and became an instant favorite among fans and critics for its embrace of the weird while also telling a deeply moving story about people coping with trauma and finding acceptance.
The series was also a major part in star Brendan Fraser's comeback which has led to great acclaim for his role in The Whale. Doom Patrol moved over to HBO Max in season two and found a wider audience, and had its fourth season split into two parts. The second part of season four will air sometime in 2023 bringing this acclaimed adaptation of one of DC's most underrated titles to an end.
7 Yellowstone
Yellowstone has been one of the biggest series since it premiered in 2018. While on paper a series about land development and conflicts on the borders of Yellowstone park may not sound like must-see TV, the Taylor Sheridan series has generated a passionate and loyal audience and pulls in some of the biggest views on television, made more impressive by the fact that it doesn't air on a major network, but rather the Paramount Network.
Season five of the series is set to be the last, and rumors speculate there is behind the scenes conflicts and controversy between star Kevin Costner and the creative team. Yet while Yellowstone will be concluding in 2023, the series will live on with multiple spin-off shows, and a continuation is planned with Matthew McConaughey stepping into the lead role.
6 Riverdale
- Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Riverdale premiered on the CW in the mid-season of 2016 and quickly became a huge hit for the network, particularly after season one streaming on Netflix saw a major boost in ratings for the season two premiere. The show is a dark reimagining of the wholesome Archie Comics series, and over the course of its seven seasons has gone from a simple teen murder mystery to include cults, magic, and even alternate realities.
Season seven will introduce time travel with all the characters being stuck in the 1950s like their classic comic book counterparts. While the show's popularity has certainly waned in recent years, the Riverdale universe has expanded into an interconnected franchise with series like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Katy Keene. It started the franchise, and now will get to conclude it.
5 The Flash
While Arrow may have kickstarted the Arrowverse, The Flash is arguably the crown jewel of the franchise. The second series in the CW's interconnected franchise of DC television shows, The Flash has been a major hit for the network, often being its most-watched series. The story of the scarlet speedster is now set to conclude with season nine, making it the longest-running series in the Arrowverse franchise. It has the distinction of ending the Arrowverse franchise but will also conclude just one month before the release of The Flash movie, which has been in development for so long it was announced the week after The Flash television series premiered on the CW, nine long seasons ago.
4 Succession
Succession has been a major critical hit for HBO following its premiere in 2018. The satirical dark comedy and drama about a family fighting for control of their media empire and the various factions that form up in these corporate showdowns. The series was announced for season four which would premiere in March 2023, but it was not until the month prior that it was confirmed that season four would be the last for the critically acclaimed series. Succession's final season premieres on March 26, 2023.
3 Cobra Kai
Cobra Kai is a success story in every sense of the word. A legacy sequel to the Karate Kid franchise based on a running joke from How I Met Your Mother premiering on YouTube Red seemed like a series destined to fail, but season one was well acted with strong scripts that made it a fan favorite. After season two, when YouTube closed down its streaming series division, the show was picked up by Netflix where it truly broke out as a major hit, becoming one of the best-performing series on the platform.
In January 2023, Netflix announced that season six of Cobra Kai would be its last. It is unclear if the decision was made because of Sony's plans for a new Karate Kid movie in 2024, but a six-season run for Cobra Kai is an accomplishment and has been one of the best legacy sequels ever created. The last season is expected to premiere on Netflix in 2023.
2 The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been a critical and awards darling since it premiered on Prime Video in 2017. Its first season garnered multiple Emmy and Golden Globe wins. There was a major gap of three years between season three in 2019 and season four in 2022, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and most people might not realize that the show has continued airing. The series is set to conclude with its upcoming season five, which premieres on April 14, 2023. The series will be greatly missed, as it had a combination of great performances, sharp witty humor, bold stand-up sets, and a nice reflection of the gender and sexual politics of the 1960s.
1 Ted Lasso
While series like The Flash and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel have certainly been on longer, few recent shows have captured audiences' hearts the way that Ted Lasso did. Premiering on AppleTV+ in August 2020, Ted Lasso became a comfort series for viewers dealing with lockdowns and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a show about kindness, with characters audiences wanted to spend more time with. It became a sensation and the winner of a major award at the Emmys. Season two aired in the summer of 2021 and pushed the story in a darker direction while maintaining everything audiences loved about the series.
Ted Lasso was always planned as a three-season story, so this ending is one the audience knew was coming, yet that doesn't make it any easier. After a two-year wait between seasons two and three, Ted Lasso returns on March 15, 2023. Audiences certainly are not ready to say goodbye, but the memories of the series will always remain. Its cast has gone on to become even bigger stars, it helped put AppleTV+ on the map as a must-have streaming service, and the show's quotes and messages will live on. Ted Lasso taught audiences to believe, and they will long after it has concluded.