Top 10 Most Shocking TV Cliffhangers

Ending on a moment like this one takes a lot of guts, especially if you don’t yet know whether your show is going to get picked up for season two. It might seem wild to think about now, since “Supernatural” ran for so long, but fans did not know if we would see more of the Winchester brothers following Season One. And Season One’s finale didn’t take any prisoners. The final episode ends with Sam, Dean, and John as the victims of a gnarly and bloody car accident. Our favorite boys are all knocked out cold, and the episode ends before we know if they’ll ever wake up again. Of course, they do. But it was heart-wrenching in the moment.

That’s what you get for waking up in Hong Kong. At the end of Season Two of “Alias,” poor Sydney goes through quite the gamut of emotions. She finds out her best friend is dead and has been replaced with a double, and then has to kill said double. But that’s far from the weirdest thing that happens to Syd during this episode. At the very end, she wakes up and finds herself in Hong Kong. Everyone around her is walking on eggshells until they finally drop the bomb. Sydney has been missing for two years. Cut to black. Think about how we felt having to wait for the show to come back after that reveal! Honestly, it’s just rude.

Far be it from us to think that Dexter would ever give up his serial killing ways. But in the Season Four finale of “Dexter,” he endeavored to do just that. With Arthur, better known as the Trinity Killer, finally off the table, Dexter decides that maybe he loves his family more than he loves the ability to kill, and decides to give it up. Unfortunately, that promise only lasts for so long. Upon returning home after getting rid of Arthur’s body, Dexter finds he didn’t kill the serial killer fast enough. Arthur had already killed Dexter’s wife, Rita, leaving her in the tub for him to find. We’re left with that image, wondering what Dexter will do until next season.

Technically speaking, Buffy Summers had already died a couple of times by the time Season Five’s “The Gift” rolled around. But the Season Five finale’s version of her death felt a lot more shocking and final to fans. In a desperate effort to stop a demonic world domination event, Buffy’s sister Dawn considers jumping into a portal. But if we knew Buffy, then we know she can’t let that happen. Buffy jumps into the portal herself, saving the world and dying in the process. The episode ends with a shot of Buffy’s headstone, signaling to the audience that she might be dead for good this time. Obviously, she’s later resurrected, but we had to wait a long time to learn that bit of information.

This episode of “The Walking Dead” puts you right in the center of the cliffhanger. At the end of Season Six, a group called The Saviors captures Rick and his friends. Their menacing leader, Negan, takes control of the group and declares that one of them must die for the group’s sins. He engages in a terrifying game of “Eeny Meeny Miney Moe,” and chooses a victim. But instead of showing us who he chooses, the camera switches to the captive’s point of view. We’re put in their frame of reference as Negan savagely beats them to death. After that horrifying moment, fans were left to wait until next season to find out who it was that died. An agonizing wait, to be sure.

The vows heard around the world! Deep down, we always knew that Ross should not get married to Emily. So when Rachel showed up at the wedding in London, we were sure that she would do something to mess it up. Shockingly, it wasn’t Rachel who screwed up Ross’s big day, but Ross himself. During the vows, Ross accidentally calls Emily by Rachel’s name … big yikes. As Emily stands there shocked, the officiant asks the couple if he should go on, and then the credits roll. Fans had to wait until the next season to figure out whether Emily would be a runaway bride or a wife scorned.

“Game of Thrones” is pretty much known for its cliffhangers. You don’t end an episode like “Hardhome” with the Night King raising the dead and not expect to leave a few people agog. But nothing hits us quite like the shock of the Red Wedding. The other thing that this show loved to do was leave us with massive cliffhangers not during the finale, but during episode nine. This Season Three episode was no different. Watching Robb Stark and his bannermen massacred by the Freys, those they considered their allies, was agonizing. The worst part? It’s a toss-up between the brutal death of Talisa and Catelyn watching this unfold before meeting the same fate.

We all wondered when someone would finally figure out what Walter White was up to and go after him. But the way DEA Agent Hank Schrader learns about his brother-in-law Walter’s drug dealing activities is a doozy. While hanging out at Walter’s house, Hank finds a copy of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” in Walter’s bathroom. The book has a note from Gale Boetticher, Walter’s old meth lab assistant. Hank connects the dots and realizes that his brother-in-law, his friend, is Heisenberg. The mid-season finale leaves us at that moment, wondering what Hank will do and how he will confront Walter with this new information.

Perhaps one of the most memorable cultural events of the past 50 or so years, the identity of J.R. Ewing's shooter on “Dallas” drove audiences bonkers. At the end of the Season Three finale, J.R., one of the most iconic villains in television history, was shot. We never see the assailant as J.R. collapses to the floor, leaving us to wonder if he survived and who could have possibly done it. The television event took the world by storm. The catchphrase “Who Shot J.R.?” went viral before going viral was a thing, taking over the eight-month span between Seasons Three and Four. An estimated 83 million Americans tuned in to find out who did it.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Cycle Begins Again, “The Good Place” (2016-20)
It Was the Bad Place All Along

McDreamy Is Married, “Grey’s Anatomy” (2005-)
Just When Things Are Going Well, the Wife Shows Up

John & Lucy, “ER” (1994-2009)
A Double Stabbing

Starbuck Is Alive, “Battlestar Galactica” (2004-09)
She’s Back & She Knows the Way to Earth

Sam the Shapeshifter, “True Blood” (2008-14)
Sam Finds Himself in the Dog House

“Lost” was full of mysteries during its six-year run, and there were plenty of cliffhangers during that time to keep us on the edge of our seats. We were gobsmacked at the image of a light turning on in that underground hatch, but for us the Season Three two-part finale takes the cake. Throughout the episode, we’re watching a depressed, alcoholic version of Jack off the island, in sequences we assume are flashbacks. But, at the end of the episode, Jack meets up with Kate, revealing that what we’re watching is taking place in the future and the two have left the island. Jack screams, “We have to go back,” at Kate as the episode ends, leaving audiences everywhere shocked… and more lost than ever.