Outer Banks. Madison Bailey as Kiara in episode 509 of Outer Banks | Cr. Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix
Looking back at the long list of Netflix original series that have graced our screens in the past decade, it’s pretty rare for the streamer’s shows to actually have a formal final season. Because so many series were abruptly canceled, they didn’t get the endings they deserved.
However, plenty of great Netflix shows enjoyed much longer runs and were given the chance to end on their own terms, with final seasons that were specifically crafted to provide resolution. That doesn’t mean that fans loved each of these final seasons or found them satisfying.
While the satisfaction each fans feels about a show’s final season is subjective, like the differing reactions to Stranger Things season 5 (which isn’t on this list, don’t worry), these fan-favorite Netflix shows had some of the most disappointing final seasons across the board.
Outer Banks
Because Outer Banksseason 5 just came out in August 2026, you might think it’s too soon to judge the show’s final season. But it’s not. There’s no amount of simmering or sitting with the final season that will change the immediate feeling that most fans got when watching the fifth season.
Compared to the show’s past seasons, OBX5 leaves you with an overwhelming sense of disappointment. Not because of the ending, which is admittedly happy and gives us what we want. But because we know how much potential was wasted on a joyless, complicated revenge mission.
It’s hard for shows, especially those in the young adult space, to bounce back from killing off a main character. Just look at how The O.C.fared after Marissa was killed off at the end of season 3. Outer Bankssimply wallowed under the dark cloud JJ’s death left behind.
For once, this would have been a great contender for a flash forward that aged up its young characters. Rather than jumping right into the grief, OBX’s last adventure could have went out with a much bigger bang rather than a dark and depressing whimper.
Manifest
When you fight so hard for a television show to be saved, your biggest hope is that it sticks the landing. Well, your mileage may vary with Manifest, but stick the landing it did not. After being canceled by NBC and finding success on Netflix, the streamer picked up one more season.
The final season, which contained 20 episodes split into two parts, had quite the heavy load to carry in order to wrap up the show’s mythology. Manifest had just gotten much more in the weeds with its storyteling as the Flight 828 passengers were searching for the truth about what happened to them.
Manifest season 4 somehow managed to both meander and overstuff its 20-episode stretch. The series went into territory we never quite expected and probably wasn’t necessary to explain why a plane traveled back in time and made its passengers test their morality versus their mortality.
Despite the cast remaining game and the series wrapping up its storylines, the ending undoing the entire series was a maddening conclusion. Maybe if we could board Flight 828 all over again, we could go back in time and prevent the final season of Manifest from having a disappointing ending.
When You became a Netflix original series with its second season, most fans probably wouldn’t have expected the series to have ended up lasting for five seasons. But the Penn Badgley stalker thriller continued to reinvent itself and find more opportunities for Joe Goldberg to be bad.
But the fifth and final season just drove home the fact that You simply overstayed its welcome by the time that these episodes rolled around. If you weren’t already over Joe by the end of season 1 (guilty) and managed to make it all the way to the final season, then you were probably getting there.
Youstopped being great, comparatively to its earlier seasons, after the epic third season, which was a natural peak both in popularity and creativity. The fourth season interrupted the show’s flow and by the fifth season, the pacing and choices felt more like treading water than breaking new ground.
Ozark
What do you do when a great and adored show leaves you with a final season that you don’t really like? Unfortunately, that’s not a unique problem to be faced with and many fans have felt this over the years. Game of Thrones, How I Met Your Mother, Once Upon a Time,just to name a few.
Netflix found a real hidden gem in Ozark, the crime drama that brought in the viewership, critical acclaim, and awards wins throughout its four-season run. Each season, fans couldn’t get enough of the twists and turns that kept us on the edge of our seats, but the final season delivered a bad twist.
In the series finale, Julia Garner’s fan-favorite character Ruth Langmore was killed. Is one character dying in the series finale enough for an entire final season to be disappointing? Well, yes! Again, your mileage may vary, but for a lot of fans, Ruth’s death was a major
One decision kept Ozark from having a flawless run, but even then, some of the cracks were really showing in its final season. Once super sharp, the series became overly complicated and barely believable in its final batches of episodes. Can you believe they killed Ruth? Justice for Ruth!
