A season finale is the last episode of a season, designed to attract a large audience and leave viewers with a feeling of completion while setting up for the next season. It may include special effects, long-running storylines, and a cliffhanger ending. A series finale concludes an entire series, and cancellation can affect the level of resolution in a season finale.
In television, a season finale is the last episode of a season. It could be the last new episode of the show seen for several months, and the writers generally try to craft it in such a way that viewers feel compelled to tune in for the next season. Classically, season finales air in the late spring when TV shows are wrapping up for the summer break, with new scripted programming appearing in the fall.
Several things need to be accomplished in a season finale. From a network perspective, the finale must attract a large audience, indicating that interest in the show is still strong, and must include enough compelling material to draw people in when the next season airs. Networks may allow extra budgetary headroom for season finales so that the show can include extra special effects, expensive guest actors, and other expensive tactics designed to make the finale distinctive and memorable.
Classically, a season finale also encompasses long-running storylines that have developed over the course of a season. Characters can get married, for example, or a gripping murder mystery can finally be solved. This tidying up of loose ends doesn’t usually address any overarching story arcs in the series, so viewers know there are ongoing mysteries and issues that need solving, but leave viewers with a feeling of completion.
Many series finales incorporate a cliffhanger ending. A character may be left in grave danger, or an event may be about to unfold; for example, an explosion might be visible just before the screen goes black and the credits start rolling. The cliffhanger is used to keep readers interested in the story during the show’s hiatus and to provide a starting point for the next season so that the first few episodes can start off with a bang.
There is a distinction between a season finale, which concludes a television season, and a series finale, which concludes an entire television series. On shows with a planned end date, a lot of thought can be put into the series finale, so that viewers can feel like they’ve gotten some form of resolution. When shows are abruptly cancelled, a season finale can serve as a series finale. Sometimes, cancellation occurs after the show has already wrapped filming for that season, in which case the season finale may not have the level of resolution viewers want. In some cases, a network allows producers to change or re-shoot part of the ending to fix this.
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