10 Movie Franchises That Wasted Their Perfect Ending

When The Fast and the Furious was released back in 2001, nobody could've appreciated the blockbuster pop-culture monolith it would become, surely not even star-producer Vin Diesel.

Yet the series suffered a major blow with the untimely death of co-lead Paul Walker during production of Furious 7, forcing the filmmaking team to scramble and rework the film to both go on without Walker and gives his Brian O'Conner character a fitting send-off.

And against tremendous odds that's precisely what director James Wan did, offering up a mostly seamless sequel that managed to be a thrilling, high-wire action extravaganza while also pulling off a deeply affecting "retirement" of Walker's character.

The final sequence, an almost fourth wall-breaking aside in which Dom's (Diesel) crew acknowledge that Brian is better off retired at home with his family, and Dom and Brian (in CGI-assisted form) literally drive their separate ways, feels like a note-perfect end for not only Brian's tenure but the series as a whole.

There was really nowhere to go dramatically after this, and though the series certainly isn't awful right now, The Fate of the Furious and especially F9 have demonstrated that the law of diminishing returns is firmly in effect.

Plus, with regular franchise director Justin Lin quitting the upcoming Fast X mere days into production, it's difficult to be optimistic about what's to come.

While it isn't fair to say that the series died with Paul Walker, Furious 7 was a fantastic high-point, and it's been firmly downhill ever since.