Some major storylines from TV shows never went anywhere, merely padding the runtime before the inevitable conclusionor having little to no effect on the story’s outcome. This includesTV love interests that were suddenly droppedandstorylines that TV shows simply abandoned, with no explanation being offered for either. These cases in particular demonstrate shoddy work on the part of the writers, as they did not commit to the story they had started.
Some storylines and characters were dropped because they were unpopular among the audience. On the other hand,TV shows have set up plot points to be hugely impactful on the overall story,and while they might have technically been wrapped up, the show would have ended the same way without them. Examples from pointlessGrey’s Anatomyromances to thehatedGame of Thronesfinaledemonstrate subplots that were ultimately meaningless.
10Jon Snow’s Lineage
Game Of Thrones (2011-2019)
The notorious final season ofGame of Thronesdid wrong by a lot of characters, namelyJon and Daenerys.Jon’s parentage had been a long-standing mystery inGame of Thrones,since the first episodes when it is established that Ned telling Jon the identity of his mother is a much bigger deal than it should be. Far more interesting than this plot point’s impact is the unanswered question of whether Ned would have told Jon the truth the next time they met. In the end, it only served to drive Dany to become the"Mad Queen."
Game Of Thrones
Cast
Based on George R. R. Martin’s ongoing A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama set in the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos. It follows noble families like the Starks, Lannisters, and Targaryen vying for control of the Iron Throne while a rising threat from the undead looms in the North. The series received significant critical success and amassed a loyal fan base due to its high production values, sprawling sets, iconic characters, and shocking twists.
8 Massive TV Show Plot Twists That Were Clearly Not Planned In Advance
Plot twists can make or break their TV shows, and some aren’t planned from the very beginning, which can make them memorable for the wrong reasons.
In typicalGame of Thronesfashion, the writers stretched out this reveal. Bran discovers the truth in a vision at the end of season 6, whileGilly stumbles across a record of Lyanna and Rhaegar’s marriage midway through season 7.The drama of the season 7 finale implies a major fallout because Jon has a claim to the throne. However, no one other than Jon’s immediate family and friends and their closest advisors ever find out about this; he probably would have killed Dany anyway and still been exiled to the Wall.
9Kayce Wanting To Return To The Military
Yellowstone (2018-Present)
In the second episode ofYellowstone,Kayce calls his old commander and says he wants to rejoin the Navy SEALs.He and Monica have a brief argument about it. In the next episode, Kayce is doing some target practice with his son Tate. Tate says he knows that Kayce is practicing for the military and that he doesn’t want his father to leave, but the conversation is interrupted. However, Kayce does say he doesn’t want to go back, but it might be what is necessary for their family financially.
Yellowstone
Yellowstone follows the Dutton family, led by patriarch John Dutton, as they defend their expansive ranch against external threats from land developers, an Indian reservation, and America’s first national park. Released on August 09, 2025, this series examines the complex dynamics and violent conflicts surrounding the largest contiguous ranch in the United States.
This early on in a series, the show is likely still figuring out what direction it is going with all the characters. However, Kayce considering the military as the best option going forward is never revisited.Supposedly, this becomes redundant as Kayce gets more involved with his family’s work,but it would have been a stronger plot point if the show had shown more conflict between these two options.
8Libby In The Same Psych Ward As Hurley
Lost (2004-2010)
For the best results with Libby’s character, they should have done her backstory before her death.
Lost’s missing Libby backstoryis forever an unresolved storyline. Becoming a major character in season 2, Libby is a kind and steady addition to the group. She also becomes Hurley’s love interest and helps him during the episode where his past mental health treatment is revealed, and he believes that he is hallucinating what is happening on the island. In a surprising turn of events,the flashback then reveals that Libby was at the same mental institution as Hurley,for unconfirmed reasons.
Lost
Lost is a mystery drama series created for TV that follows a group of survivors of a plane crash and tells its story between the past, present, and future via flashbacks. When Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 crashes and lands on a mysterious island in the pacific ocean, the castaways discover their new temporary home may have a mind of its own, as strange supernatural events keep them locked to the island. From an unknown black smoke creature to dangerous islanders, the passengers must work together to survive the island’s seemingly deadly intentions.
Lostslowly pieces together most of its main characters' backstoriesthrough the flashbacks; Libby appears in the season 2 finale when a past encounter with Desmond is also revealed. However, she is given no more significant character development after this, as Cynthia Watros decided to leave the show. Libby is also suddenly killed by Michael in the present-day timeline, so her past is no longer important to the main story. For the best results with Libby’s character, they should have done her backstory before her death.
7Lily & Maleficent
Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)
Lily is a huge deal inOnce Upon a Timeseason 4,as another person Emma met during her pre-Storybrooke years with connections to the Enchanted Forest. Snow and Charming offloading Emma’s potential for villainy onto Lily drives a major wedge in the Charming family, while Maleficent’s search for her daughter is the cornerstone of her character. After Maleficent and Lily decide to let the past lie with the Charmings, they are still set up for a significant storyline going forward concerning Lily learning to control her power to become a dragon and finding her father.
Once Upon A Time
Once Upon a Time is an adventure fantasy-drama series created for ABC that features fairy tale characters and their Disney incarnations in a modern setting. When Emma Swan and her son Henry accidentally drive into the town of Storybrooke, they soon discover the inhabitants are those from fairy tales, and they have no knowledge of the modern world inhabited by Emma and Henry. Robbed of their pasts and given new identities by the Evil Queen known as Regina, the hope of the town’s residents lie solely in the hands of Emma, who has stronger connections to the town than she knows.
Which is howOnce Upon a Timewasted a Disney villain like Maleficentand Lily’s potential. Lily never appears in the show again; the consequences of what Snow and Charming did to her are never fully explored.Maleficent is briefly seen as a dragon in the series finale,and the other characters casually mention that Lily’s father is Zorro. Lily’s disappearance is partially because of conflicts with her actress Agnes Bruckner’s schedule, butOnce Upon a Timestill should have given her more attention later on.
6The Plot Of Ravenswood
Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017)
A supernaturally-driven spinoff ofPretty Little Liarswas always a bad idea, kind of missing the point of why the original show was popular.Ravenswoodended up being a completely pointless side note inPretty Little Liars,which was played like it was going to have major, lasting ramifications. First and foremost, Caleb breaks up with Hanna before leaving forRavenswood, putting one of the show’s major couples through one of their biggest emotional moments for nothing. Caleb and Hanna got back together without much fanfare afterRavenswoodwas canceled.
Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars is a Teen Drama and Mystery series based on the novel by Sara Shepard. The show was created by Marlene King and stars Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, and Holly Marie Combs. The series revolves around four friends who meet back up with one another and begin to receive strange threats from an unknown source simply labeled “A.”
One episode is spent on Caleb’s PTSD from the events ofRavenswoodbefore he is implied to have told Hanna all of what happened. Hannah at one point suggests that they turn to supernatural means to combat A, but Caleb shuts her down.It was too bizarre forPretty Little Liarsto even minimally acknowledge some kind of supernatural presence in this setting,which ultimately has no effect other than Caleb and Hanna living out their lives with this knowledge.
5Marie’s Shoplifting
Marie’s shoplifting habit is a subplot inBreaking Badseason 1 that makes her unlikeable and has nothing to do with the rest of the story. What Hank and Skyler do inherently plays into the primary storyline of Walt’s descent into the drug world, as Hank is the law Walt is avoiding and Skyler is the family he is putting at risk.Marie’s theft of a tiara and Skyler being accused of shoplifting when she returns is completely detachedfrom Walt and Jesse’s exploits; it just adds some extra drama.
The Lowest-Rated Episode Of 15 Of The Best TV Shows Of All Time
Even the best TV shows of all time have bad episodes. Shows including Game of Thrones, Seinfeld, and Breaking Bad feature famously divisive episodes.
This is probably why the storyline was abandoned for an entire season. After Skyler tells Hank about the tiara and gets angry when he says they need to support Marie, it doesn’t come up again.Marie starts stealing again in season 4 to cope with Hank’s verbal abuse of her during his recovery,but this is also a short-lived subplot, and their relationship shortly gets better again.Breaking Baddidn’t know what to do with this storyline when Marie’s more interesting character development comes from her finding out about Walt’s criminal activities.
4Derek Dating Rose
Grey’s Anatomy (2005-Present)
Meredith and Derek were always going to get back together, and Grey’s Anatomy knew this.
Meredith and Derekwere always going to get back together, andGrey’s Anatomyknew this. However, the showrunners decided they wanted to draw out the main romance storyline by having them break up at the end of season 3 and be in flux during season 4. Supposedly,this allows Meredith to undergo individual character development.However, it conflicts with her assertion in season 2 that when she met Derek, she believed that she was going to spend her life with him.
Grey’s Anatomy
Grey’s Anatomy is a medical drama series revolving around surgical interns, residents, and attendings at the fictional Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. The show features the professional and personal lives of these medical professionals, led initially by Dr. Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo. Created by Shonda Rhimes, the series highlights the complexities of medical cases while delving into the interpersonal relationships among the hospital staff.
In the meantime,Derek dates a nurse named Rose, who worries that she is completely secondary to Meredith.She is absolutely right, and Derek promptly breaks up with her when Meredith is ready to get back together. This whole storyline only prolongs the inevitable and is insulting to Rose as a character who serves no other purpose than to be a temporary and ineffective distraction for a male character.
3O’Brien Causing Cora’s Miscarriage
Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
At the end ofDownton Abbeyseason 1, Cora’s lady’s maid O’Brien is on a vengeful warpath when she mistakenly believes she is about to be fired. She leaves a broken bar of soap under the bathtub just as Cora is about to get out, causing Cora to slip and miscarry her baby. As the baby had been a boy and potential heir, Cora carrying to term would have completely changed the course ofDownton Abbey. Meanwhile,this deed haunts O’Brien for yearsand she becomes deeply protective of Cora.
Downton Abbey
Set in the early 20th century, Downton Abbey follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the fictional Yorkshire estate. The series explores themes of social change, romance, and intrigue against the backdrop of historical events, including the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, and the rise of the working class.
It is implied that O’Brien told Thomas about the incident off-screen, but no one else ever finds out about it.Thomas tells Bates only to remind O’Brien of"her ladyship’s soap"to convince her to help Thomas keep his job. It’s a dark storyline that remains hidden in the shadows ofDownton Abbey, doubtlessly driving O’Brien’s character arc, but with little external effect. O’Brien’s internal turmoil is the only evidence that it ever happened until she suddenly leaves for another job at the beginning of season 4.
2Charlotte Getting Emancipation
Ozark (2017-2022)
Ozarkis another show to come out of the criminal anti-herogenre blowing up in movies and TV, driven by the success ofBreaking Bad. Financial advisor Marty Byrde moves his family from Chicago to Missouri to launder money for a drug boss, which obviously strains his wife Wendy and children Jonah and Charlotte.Charlotte goes through a lot inOzark,prompting the sympathy and irritation of the audience when she tries to run away from her family and seeks emancipation.
Ozark
Ozark is a crime drama series released in 2017, focusing on a financial adviser who relocates his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks. He must launder $500 million within five years to satisfy a drug boss, navigating the challenges and dangers of his new environment.
10 TV Characters The Shows Didn’t Know What To Do With
Through repeated, redundant, or simply bad storylines, it is clear that TV shows didn’t know what to do with certain characters whose story was over.
In season 2,Charlotte hires a lawyer to help her achieve emancipation from her parents,which would have brought the wrath of the cartel down on them for raising suspicions about why Charlotte is trying to get away from them. However, season 3 moves away from this storyline, instead depicting Charlotte becoming more involved in her parents' work. Charlotte wanting out so badly as to endanger her parents might have been an interesting storyline, but the show abruptly changes direction, downplaying her previous struggles with their criminal lives.
1Eleven’s Sister Kali
Stranger Things (2016-2025)
The infamously controversial season 2 episode ofStranger Thingsfollowing Eleven and her sister figure Kali, a.k.a. Eight resulted in an awkward, short-lived storyline.Kali may return inStranger Thingsseason 5, prompting skepticism from those who criticized her episode the most. Kali and Eleven grew up together and were both experimented on in the Hawkins Lab, before Kali escaped and founded her gang. In season 2,Eleven briefly seeks out Kali for a one-off adventure.
Stranger Things
Stranger Things is a Netflix series set in the 1980s, where the mysterious disappearance of a young boy leads a small town to uncover secret experiments and supernatural forces. A significant focus is on a peculiar girl who may hold the key to the unfolding mystery.
However, Eleven soon decides to return to Hawkins, leaving Kali upset by her departure.Stranger Thingsmight have wanted to bring Kali back in season 3when setting up a character of this nature constitutes a major storyline. However, the reaction to the episode likely made the showrunners rethink this. Story plans are always changing when TV shows go on for so long, resulting in some going nowhere when actors leave, audiences lose interest, or writers realize they made a mistake.
