2025 has been a great year for entertainment. Many different movies and television shows that were released this year will be fondly remembered for either bringing something new and unexpected to the screen or making good on fan hopes and hype. That said, every year on TV is also a cycle of beginnings and endings – and 2025 was no different. For all the great new TV shows we got this year, we also lost quite a few. Some were canceled early, while others reached their natural, predetermined ending. But all of them will be missed.
Here are 7 of the best TV shows that ended in 2025. If you don’t see one of your favorites on the list, no worries; there were many great shows that met their end, but the ones listed below are the ones that our ComicBook audience tends to favor the most. So while Netflix’s Sandman is definitely a fandom show that ended, there are just other shows we consider “better” that took slots in the list. The same goes for Amazon’s comedy series Upload, or Netflix’s You, which both ended this year: They are fandom shows, yes, but not quite worthy of our Top 7. Check out the shows that made the cut, below.
Honorable Mention: Marvel Zombies
Marvel Animation
Isn’t it ironic that Marvel Zombies would be the show that’s both alive and dead at the same time? The show was a miniseries event and another Marvel Cinematic Universe animated project, so many figured it was a one-off. However, Marvel Zombies surpassed all viewership expectations, and now there are whispers of Season 2 being in development.
Because so many fans are holding their collective breath for Season 2, it’s no longer right to call Marvel Zombies just a “miniseries.” And even though a second season hasn’t been confirmed, word that it won’t be happening will give fans all the pain of a regular show cancellation.
7) Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Marvel Animation
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was not the project most Marvel fans were hanging their hopes on during the post-Avengers: Endgame period, but that’s also what made it such a nice dark horse surprise. The show followed Lunella Lafayette (Diamond White), a little black girl genius living in NYC. Lunella accidentally builds a time portal that brings a live Tyrannosaurus to modern-day New York. Partnering with her “Devil Dinosaur,” Lunella becomes “Moon Girl” and gets to work as a superhero, whose adventures crossed time and space, and brought her into company with entities like the Beyonder, and ultimately, a role in S.H.I.E.L.D.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was Marvel Universe content squarely aimed at kids and young adolescents – and the rare piece of content unabashedly aimed at kids of color. To be fair, the series was allowed to finish its story in full, as Lunella matured to become a full-fledged superhero whose mission would take her far beyond her neighborhood. It’s waiting for any lucky kid to discover, over on Disney+.
6) Dexter: Original Sin
Showtime
Showtime and Paramount have worked hard to extend the Dexter brand, and one way they did it was by launching a prequel series called Original Sin. The show took the bold swing of backfilling the story of Dexter Morgan’s formative years, where he learned to put a leash on his “Dark Passenger” and steer his killing impulses in more noble directions. It also took the bolder step of placing a young actor (Patrick Gibson) into the role of a younger Dexter Morgan, a character invariably tied to actor Michael C. Hall.
Gibson earned his spot with his performance, and Dexter: Original Sin managed to spark nostalgic fun feelings in a considerable portion of the Dexter fanbase. If nothing else, it seemed like the series had room to grow and smooth out its rougher edges. So it was surprising when Original Sin‘s planned second season got the axe, and Hall’s return in Dexter: Resurrection closed out Original Sin‘s run by framing the prequel as a comatose mind-journey Dexter took before waking up.
5) Solar Opposites
Disney-Hulu
The massive success of Rick and Morty made a lot of fans skeptical that co-creator Justin Roiland would be able to make lightning strike twice with his own animated series, Solar Opposites. And yet, the show proved that Roiland’s mad, manic wit and zany nihilism (as seen in Rick and Morty) could also be channeled into heartfelt family sitcom content. A group of aliens escapes their doomed planet and crashes on Earth, only to become enamored with the planet and particularly American culture.
Solar Opposites was a pretty spot-on satire of modern Americana culture, hilariously conveyed from the point of view of some true outsiders looking in. If that wasn’t enough, the series also had a show-within-the-show: an epic dystopian saga about a society of humans whom the Solar Opposites miniaturized and kept trapped in an elaborate ant farm built into their bedroom wall. The series arguably survived Roiland’s departure even better than Rick and Morty did, replacing his voice work with actor Dan Stevens, rather than trying to mimic it.
Fans now debate Rick and Morty vs. Solar Opposites the same way they used to debate Family Guy vs. American Dad. That should tell you everything.
4) Peacemaker
DC Studios/HBO Max
James Gunn had quite a run in 2025: he successfully reintroduced Superman to a new generation and made his new DC Universe imprint look like a true franchise universe by connecting Superman to his second season of the Peacemaker TV series. However, the run ended in something of a crash: Peacemaker Season 2 is still getting bashed for having one of the worst finales ever – one that leaves the future of the titular character and his cohorts uncertain.
It looks like things are done for “Peacemaker” as we know it. The DCU could continue telling the principal characters’ stories in a new spinoff series (following the “Checkmate” organization), or they could pop up in any number of other DCU projects.
3) The Handmaid’s Tale
DIsney-Hulu
The Handmaid’s Tale came to an end with Season 6 in 2025, at a time when most of its fans probably thought the show needed to stick around the most. However, the story of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) had been a well-measured saga of horrific loss, subjugation, escape, rebellion, and ultimately revolution. The story needed to reach its properly designated ending, and the show honored author Margaret Atwood’s source novel, while also carving out its own narrative path and thematic message. Rightly hailed as one of the best TV shows of the 2010s-2020s, The Handmaid’s Tale is streaming on Hulu.
2) Cobra Kai
Netflix
Netflix did the unthinkable when it brought the original Karate Kid franchise and characters back to the forefront of the franchise. After all, the original Karate Kid movie stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka weren’t huge stars of the screen any longer, so building an entire streaming series around the feud between sad middle-aged versions of Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) seems like a failure, on paper. Yet Cobra Kai broke out to become a cult-hit series, which not only revitalized the Karate Kid brand during its six-season run, but also inspired a whole new generation of real-life martial arts students. The full series is now streaming on Netflix, and leads into a spinoff film, Karate Kid: Legends, which can also be streamed.
1) Andor
Star Wars achieved new levels of prestige with Andor, which beat even bigger odds than Cobra Kai to become a success. Andor was a prequel to a prequel, showcasing how Rebel spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) went from a revenge-seeking assassin to becoming one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest spies, who was inspired to take on the doomed mission to secure the Death Star plans (as seen in the prequel film Rogue One). However, across two seasons, showrunner Tony Gilroy dreamed so much bigger than that, turning Cassian’s heroic journey into an entire socio-political referendum on how fascism slowly but surely weaves its way into, and ultimately strangles, a democratic republic.
More importantly, the show offered actual commentary on how the average citizen can, and is even obligated to, step up and fight authoritarianism and oppression at every turn. No matter how painful, scary, and bloody the consequences. Andor brought home five Emmys for Star Wars, and reminded the entire world why it’s one of the most revered and important franchises in entertainment.
What other popular shows are you sorry to see end in 2025? Let us know in the comments or on the ComicBook Forum!