History Main / WhatNowEnding

Not to be confused with SoWhatDoWeDoNow, AndWhatThen, or NowWhat, a different kind of "what now ending". Also an ultimate form of ShaggyDogStory.

Not to be confused with SoWhatDoWeDoNow or NowWhat, a different kind of "what now ending". Also an ultimate form of ShaggyDogStory.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' has its second season conclude with Monica breaking up with Richard while Chandler gets back together with Janice after falling in love with her for real, with the following season picked up a few months later. Notable for being the only time a What Now? conclusion was used rather than an outright cliffhanger that had to be immediately resolved next season.

** The seventh and final season, ended with the question, "What are we going to do now?"
*** Of course, Buffy's easy smile in answer to that question implied that it is not always a bad thing to lack an immediate threat.

* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' ends with Brad, Janet and Dr. Scott crawling around in the mud, feeling empty now that Frank has sexually awakened them and then died. It then fades to [[LemonyNarrator The Criminologist's]] office where he gives a FauxlosophicNarration about humanity being lost in meaning.

** In the second season finale, House gets shot, [[spoiler:and discovers that as a result of a coma induced in order to allow him to heal, his chronic pain is gone. While that turns out to be a hallucination, he does, at the end of the episode, decide to try to fix his leg from the method suggested in the hallucination.]] It works, for a while.

** In the ''fifth'' season finale, [[spoiler:House finally kicked the pill habit and scored with Cuddy, only to discover that it was all a hallucination. He ends the season in a psychiatric hospital.]]
** In the seventh Season Finale, [[spoiler:House drives his car through Cuddy's house, Cuddy is appying for a restraining order against him, and House is hiding from the police on some undisclosed Carribean Island.]]

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had its second season conclude with Monica breaking up with Richard while Chandler gets back together with Janice after falling in love with her for real, with the following season picked up a few months later. Notably for being the only time a What Now? conclusion was used rather than an outright cliffhanger that had to be immediately resolved next season.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' - At the end, [[spoiler:with the Emperor dead, no heirs to the throne, and no clear picture of how the future will play out,]] many NPC's actually have a chat topic that pretty much says "Well, what now?"

** Season 3: [[spoiler:Cocktease's group of assasins suceeded in [[BatmanGambit their plan]] to have Brock kill their competition. Brock lost his mullet and resigned from both the O.S.I. and being a bodyguard. Also [[MauveShirt Number 24]] died]].

* ''Series/TheATeam'' ended on this (though one episode later aired out of order). At the end of "The Grey Team", the team discusses that the possibility of getting pardoned earlier than they thought, as Hannibal was thinking what they would do after getting pardoned.

* ''Series/TheATeam'' ended on this (though one episode later aired out of order). At the end of "The Grey Team", the team discusses that the possibility of getting pardoned earlier than they thought, as Hannibal was thinking what they would do after gettting pardoned.

* ''Film/{{Suburbia}} ends with the TR kids successfully fighting off an invasion from two of the members from Citizens Against Crime. Cue the duo coming back around for round two, followed by Ethan getting run over and killed by their car, with Jack's father arriving too late to stop any of the aforementioned events from happening. Roll credits.

* The last scene of ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' shows Gill and the other aquarium fish successfully escaping through the window and across the street in plastic bags as they had originally planned. However, they realize that they [[DidntThinkThisThrough have no plan for getting out of the plastic bags]], leaving them [[FridgeHorror stuck in there, floating around in the harbor]], prompting Bloat to ask "Now what?". In ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', we learn that they swam, in their bags, ''all the way across the Pacific'' to the Marine Life Institute in Morro Bay, California - where they are immediately scooped up by institute staff grumbling "No respect for ocean life!" and put into a cooler. As they leave, we hear Bloat once again ask, "Now what?"

* This is how season 2 of ''Series/PhilOfTheFuture'' ended...''[[LeftHanging forever]]''. Phil's family [[spoiler:goes back to the future, right after [[LastMinuteHookup he and Keely finally admit their feelings for each other]]. Problem was, they left [[TeamPet Curtis]] back in the 21st century.]] Obviously this was meant to pick up in season 3, or a movie, or ''something'', but no. There was NoEnding.

* {{Police Procedural}}s, such as ''LawAndOrder'' and ''Series/{{CSI}}'' tend to have these.

* ''CaptainPowerAndTheSoldiersOfTheFuture'' is the quintessential example, as Season One (the [[CutShort only season it had before cancellation]]) ended with the [[AnyoneCanDie death]] of [[DyingDeclarationOfLove Jeniffer "Pilot" Chase]] after she [[HeroicSacrifice self-destructed the Powerbase's reactor]], both to keep the base's sensitive information from falling into Lord Dread's hands, and [[TakingYouWithMe to destroy Blastarr]]. The FiveManBand was effectively broken up, leaving Power, Hawk, Tank, and Scout destitute and hopeless in the wilderness.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' did this a lot:

* The last scene of ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' shows Gill and the other aquarium fish successfully escaping through the window and across the street in plastic bags as they had originally planned. However, they realize that they [[DidntThinkThisThrough have no plan for getting out of the plastic bags]], leaving them [[FridgeHorror stuck in there, floating around in the harbor]], prompting one of them to ask "Now what?".
** Granted, a Disney comic shows that they eventually made it out and they catch up with Nemo.

* ''Film/TheGraduate''.

---> [[spoiler: Pretend I did blow up the school - all the schools. Now that you're dead,]] what are you going to do with your life?

* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' ended with him becoming leader of the Necromongers.
** ''Film/{{Riddick}}'' finally answers this. [[spoiler:He decides to leave the Necromongers to find his destroyed homeworld and turns over his title of Lord Marshall to Vaako]].

* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' ends with [[spoiler: Fred learning the BigBad is his father, and then that actually he's ''not'' his father, and breaking the team up, while Shaggy's parents decide they're going to send him MilitarySchool, and Scooby [[ReleasedToElsewhere to a farm]]]].

* ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' first ends like this with Noble 6 shooting down the Covenant cruiser from the ground and watching the Pillar of Autumn escape into space, leaving him/her presumably the last living human on Reach. It's then subverted with a PlayableEpilogue as TheStinger, in which [[spoiler:[[LastStand you are swarmed by an endless horde of enemies to fight to the last bullet.]]]]

* ''PetShopOfHorrors'' ended with Count D disappearing from Los Angeles, leaving a badly injured Leon looking for answers after (finally) discovering the true nature of Count D and his pets. The flash-forward epilogue never resolves what happened to the two main protagonists [[spoiler: although we know from the sequel and side stories that Leon chases D across the world while D sets up shop in Tokyo and adopts a [[ReplacementScrappy new human]] to torment. Leon's eventual fate, however, is still up in the air]].

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' ends with a DownerEnding in Season 1, with Baam being betrayed by Rachel and nearly killed, believed to be dead and taken in by a anti-government conspiracy. The TrueCompanions around Koon, Rak and Androssi are in sorrow and decide to help Rachel to the top of the Tower in Baam's stead. After a one month hiatus, we cut to 5 years in the future, where Yuri is still searching for Baam and Baam reappears. With a new identity, a nice hair-do, cool clothes, new powers and a whole lot on his mind.

* This is how season 2 of ''PhilOfTheFuture'' ended...''[[LeftHanging forever]]''. Phil's family [[spoiler:goes back to the future, right after [[LastMinuteHookup he and Keely finally admit their feelings for each other]]. Problem was, they left [[TeamPet Curtis]] back in the 21st century.]] Obviously this was meant to pick up in season 3, or a movie, or ''something'', but no. There was NoEnding.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' ends its Secret Invasion arc with [[spoiler: the Avengers preventing Queen Veranke from taking over the Earth, then left to reflect on what they've lost during the invasion: Black Panther ''still'' feels too wary of an alien among the team to return to America. The Skrulls had Hulk jailed for a crime he didn't commit. One of the invaders framed Captain America, on international television, of supporting a surrender to the Skrulls. Finally, Lord knows how many aliens still need capturing...]]

* ''{{Sliders}}'' ended with Rembrandt sliding alone to his homeworld, despite a (very accurate) seer's warning that doing so would be fatal. The others are left standing there, asking, "Now what do we do?"

* ''TheShield'' and ''RescueMe'''s first seasons both ended with the wife of the protagonist leaving him and going into hiding because their spouse had become dangerous.

* ''{{Scrubs}}'' actually has a few of these. Season one ended with Jordan revealing everyone's personal secrets to each other, putting them all in very uncomfortable positions, season three ended with J.D. telling Elliott he didn't love her, and season four ended with J.D. moving out and recognizing he was at a crossroads in his life (with him literally wondering "what now?").