10 Horror TV Shows That Ended On A Cliffhanger
4. American Gods
The small screen adaption of Neil Gaiman’s horror-fantasy epic had a turbulent run, to say the least. A falling out between the author and showrunner Brian Fuller marred the transition from the first season to the second and accusations of racism and shady business practices aimed at the studio from recurring star Orlando Jones cast long shadows over the show’s viability. The story follows Shadow Moon, a man released early from prison on account of his wife’s death, who’s employed as a driver/bodyguard for the mysterious Mr Wednesday, literally Odin himself, as they journey across America meeting deities from various other cultures.
As premises go, it’s a doozy, and with big names like Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover and Gillian Anderson the show gained a few awards alongside excellent critical reception, despite all the trouble behind the scenes. Alas, the third and final season spent most of its time trying to right the ship from the disastrous second season and, what began as an exploration of the immigrant experience and the modern world’s relationship with faith, ended as a less inspiring story than the one it had begun.
Season 3 closes with Shadow hanging himself from the world tree Yggdrasil in sacrifice, a homage to Odin’s own legend, and appearing to be consumed and killed. However, Shadow still pops up with Mr Wednesday afterwards in a plane “somewhere between life and death”, strongly hinting that this was far from the end of Shadow’s story. For context, his dead wife was following him around as a horny zombie for most of the show so we do know death isn’t the end in this universe. Nevertheless, barring another studio stepping in to save it, it might be the last we see from this flawed masterpiece of a show.