Finales and the Problem of Zombie Series

Ending a series is difficult. Series can be cancelled before their time, Firefly being one of the most epic examples, or they plod on forever until they are ground into dust. And in this era of reboot madness, a series ending isn’t even necessarily an ending, as things move networks, get picked up by a streaming service, or get rebooted. Gilmore Girls, for example, finished a perfectly respectable seven-year run at a logical point, only to have a four-episode mini-series on Netflix ten years later (I have way too many feelings about that to approach here). Firefly got a movie follow-up, and Serenity is not only amazing but has one of my favorite fight scenes of all times. Given this climate, it feels as though anything successful, or with a loud following, can simply go one forever.

The problem with that, however, is that stories need to end. By definition, a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The middle can’t last forever, and endings are needed to give a story shape. But in the current media structure, even planned, well-executed endings don’t get a chance to be, well, endings.

Last Monday, the Season Five finale for Steven Universe aired. Steven Universe is one of my favorite shows on television these days, and I watched it as soon as I could. Once I’d finished, I went down the fandom rabbit hole of seeing what my fellow fans thought of it. One thing that struck not just me but others in the Steven Universe fandom, was that this clearly was not written like a season finale, but a series finale. The story arc that had emerged from the very first episode was closed, and while there are always lose ends, every major plot point was resolved. The ending sequence even mirrored the opening credits just to bring the full-circle-ness home, which I didn’t notice but the YouTuber Slice of Otaku pointed out.

But the thing is, this probably isn’t the series finale for Steven Universe. There hasn’t been a Season 6 announced, but neither has the show been cancelled. Others who know way more than me are convinced that there is more Steven Universe coming. But should there be? I mostly think no, it would be better if the series just ended here.

I’ve been in this position before as a fan, specifically with the show Supernatural. For those who don’t know, the WB/CW show is about two brothers who fight the, you guessed it, supernatural all the while being manipulated by angels and demons as part of a larger plot to bring about the apocalypse. Supernatural was written as a five-year arc. That arc, the main story that propelled literally everything since Season One, was in fact wrapped up at the Season Five finale, including things that seemed extraneous until multiple seasons later when their significance was revealed. It was amazing and tightly constructed and honestly, had an excellent ending. But Supernatural is currently on its 14th season.

If you don’t let a story end, even when it hits that point in the narrative, it becomes what I call a “zombie series.” It shuffles along in an approximation of life but has lost what makes the story truly alive. There are, in theory at least, always more stories to tell and loads of fun narrative gimmicks to make that work. The most popular one seems to be the time-skip. But even so, there is a certain point where it is beating a narrative dead horse. Even Scheherazade stopped telling stories after a certain point.

As with much of entertainment, which is a capitalist, commercial industry like any other, series get prolonged into zombie series due to market logic. If people keep loving and watching a show, regardless of narrative structure, then it will continue to be produced. Supply will meet the demand. That is what happened with Supernatural and it is what is likely to happen with Steven Universe.

I will never begrudge people in creative professions income. It’s a rough field, both to break into, and to make any kind of money from and I know both of those things from personal experience. But it’s not clear if those people are the ones who profit from zombie series or if it’s just the studios who already have more than enough money. Eric Kripke, the creator of Supernatural, left the show after Season Five and the original arc ended. So who knows how much financial benefit he derives from the zombification of Supernatural.

I’m a firm believer in things ending when the narrative is over. I’ve even made my best friend promise me that she’ll force me to stop any of my series begin to zombify. Because if a story, or a series, goes beyond its natural ending point, it will become a bad story. What made it great will be lost. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. And I’d rather not see that happen, with any story I love, be it my own or a show like Steven Universe.

It’s hard not to want or consume more of a thing you love - just ask anyone who thought they wouldn’t finish that bag of chips. But stories, by definition, have to end. And as a writer, but more importantly as fan, I’d rather see something end on a logical narrative high note, than see something I love shamble around in an unnecessary shadow of itself.