Cut Short in Western Animation.
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo got Screwed by the Network and producer Tom Ruegger felt there was no further life to it; it was cancelled after 13 episodes, leaving the series to end on the sad note of just ONE more ghost that needed to be captured... Fortunately, the story would finally be wrapped up years later with Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost.
- The Angry Beavers was originally set to have a Grand Finale (for which dialogue was recorded
) with the characters learning they were on a TV show that was ending. Nickelodeon, however, gave it the axe because it went against their "no ending" policy at the time,note as well as the ending of the episode itself, which involved the Beavers going to Cartoon Heaven, being seen as too sad for the target audience to be worth breaking the rule for. - The Backyardigans was originally going to have more episodes after Season 4, but was cancelled due to the show's creator Janice Burgess moving on to work on the revival for Winx Club.
- Bailey's Comets, an obscure DePatie-Freleng show from 1973 about eleven teams of roller derby skaters going cross country to find clues to a treasure, ended with the treasure unfound. This was largely due to budgetary issues; it was too expensive to have that many characters moving at the same time.
- The 1980s cartoon The Bluffers centered around a group of Woodland Creatures trying to find out the secret of a villain named Clandestino. It got canceled before they could say what his secret was.
- Because of the series' rather dismal reception, The Brothers Grunt ended its run without Sammy, Dean, Bing, Frank, and Tony reuniting with their brother Perry and taking him back to their monastery.
- Butt-Ugly Martians only ran for one season and ended on a cliffhanger where Emperor Bog threatened to come to Earth and kill 2T, B-Bop, and Do-Wah for abandoning their mission to invade Earth, the Butt-Uglies and Stoat Muldoon replying that they weren't scared and were willing to give it their all in the inevitable battle.
- The Buzz on Maggie ended after one season of 21 episodes due to it failing to gain an audience overseas, with Maggie's dream of becoming famous never achieved.
- Around the World in 79 Days, a revisionist take on Jules Verne's story which was a segment of 1969's The Cattanooga Cats, ended after 17 episodes with the round-the-world trip for Phineas Fogg Jr., Jenny and Happy unfinished.
- The original Animated Adaptation of Clifford the Big Red Dog was scheduled to have a third and final season, with an episode in which the titular character gets married and has babies. Unfortunately, the death of John Ritter, the person who voiced Clifford, on the set of 8 Simple Rules, led to the final season's cancellation and a new series, Clifford's Puppy Days, being produced in its place.
- Clone High looked like a case of this for nearly two decades. The show's first season finale ends in a dramatic Cliffhanger that involves all of the major plot points — the Abe-Cleo-Joan love triangle, the Secret Board of Shadowy Figures' tensions with Scudworth, the prom — all which looked to be never resolved, because season two just never materialized. The creators suggested that they might not have resolved any of this if the show had a second season, as aggressively ignoring in-universe continuity would be very on-brand for Clone High's style of humor. However, said second season was finally put into production and released in 2023, ultimately averting this.
- Da Boom Crew ends with the main characters never beating the game and thus never making it back to Earth.
- Dragon Booster was mean to have 5 seasons but was ultimately cut short at 3 due to poor viewership.
- Duckman, which went three seasons without a single cliffhanger, ended its run with an episode where the title character (a talking duck, private detective and widower) remarries only to have the wedding disrupted by the return of his dead wife, Beatrice. She asks why he didn't wait for her. He says he thought she was dead. She asks why Cornfed (Duckman's partner) didn't tell him the truth. Cornfed says he can explain everything, and To Be Continued pops up on the screen. Naturally, the one time they ended the season with a cliffhanger expecting renewal, the show was canceled.
- In-Universe example with the show-within-a-show version of Darkwing Duck in DuckTales (2017). In "Friendship Hates Magic!" when Mrs. Beakley gets into the series, she's aghast to learn it was cancelled on a cliffhanger. This is shown in more detail in "The Duck Knight Returns!": DW confronted a villain who turned out to be ... himself.
- Dungeons & Dragons (1983) was cancelled prior to a final episode (which was scripted but never animated) that resolved plot threads including whether the characters got home and the relationship between the Dungeon Master and Venger. Good news is the script for the final episode was not only released, but received a fan comic adaption. This comic adaption has since also received an audiovisual adaption that is now on YouTube.
- The Emperor's New School had plans for a third season that would have made it a 65-Episode Cartoon, but production stopped when Eartha Kitt, Yzma's voice actress, lost her battle with colon cancer. Fortunately, they were able to cobble together a series finale that wrapped things up fairly well.
- The two American-made Humongous Mecha Animated Series from The '90s, Exo Squad and Battletech, both end with unresolved cliffhangers.
- Final Space was canned after three seasons, ending on a massive cliffhanger with the Big Good dead, one of the heroes having pulled a Face–Heel Turn, and the Big Bad having escaped from its dimension.
- The animated adaptation of Fraggle Rock ended abruptly at 13 episodes. According to the Muppet Wiki, NBC chose not to renew it because one of the children disliked the show.
- Averted with Gravity Falls, which nearly ended with the season one finale "Gideon Rises". Alex Hirsch stated in interviews following the show's conclusion that creating the first season was so stressful and challenging for him, that it was only the show's quickly growing fanbase pushing him to continue on from that episode's cliffhanger that made him willing to create one last season.
- Glitch Techs was cancelled in the middle of production on its second production season, which was already a cut short 10 episodes, due to a change in corporate management. None of those episodes were ever finished, remaining as animatics at best, preventing the series from even re-visiting the "Bolypius" plotline that was introduced in the second episode.
- Green Lantern: The Animated Series ended on a cliffhanger after only one season due to poor toy sales. Said cliffhanger revolves around whether Razer can bring Aya back to life. As a result of the cancellation, various plot threads weren't resolved.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) only lasted 39 episodes before being abruptly cancelled, leaving many loose ends unresolved.
- Hey Arnold! was planned to end with a theatrically released Grand Finale, "The Jungle Movie", which would have resolved practically every plot thread - Arnold goes with his class to San Lorenzo to find his parents, and he finally hooks up with Helga. The show's final episodes, "The Journal", were the movie's prologue and ended on a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, thanks to the box office failure of Hey Arnold! The Movie, and because Craig Bartlett couldn't agree with Nickelodeon over a contract extension, the movie was cancelled and the show ended without explaining what happened to Arnold's parents on their final mission. Over the years, many a fan have petitioned to have it made and even Bartlett expressed his wish to come back and make it. Thankfully, in 2015, Nickelodeon — on a nostalgia kick with the success of TeenNick's NickRewind block — announced that they were finally giving The Jungle Movie the green light as a two-part TV movie in 2017. Bartlett and most of the original crew, including several of the voice actors, returned as well, much to the delight of fans.
- High Guardian Spice has only twelve episodes (which were all released on Crunchyroll on the same day) and ends on a cliffhanger. After two years of silence regarding the show, it was later confirmed that the studio behind it had shut down, making any continuation unlikely.
- Hoops was cancelled after only one season due to low ratings. The series ends on a cliffhanger where Ben and Matty end up getting a flat tire while on their way to Henderson prep. It’s unknown whether or not they make it.
- Infinity Train ended with four seasons out of a planned eight due to higher-ups thinking the show was "too mature" for its target audience. Despite being an anthology with self-contained season-long arcs, the cancellation left the outcomes of two overarching storylines unresolved; those being whether Amelia will ever manage to get off the train and whereabouts and status of Hazel after being quarantined.
- Invader Zim: Due to low ratings from the target demographic* , the show was cancelled in the middle of producing its second season, though the show would return as a comic over a decade later, with a television movie following shortly after.
- King Arthur & the Knights of Justice was unexpectedly cancelled after two seasons and 26 episodes, with its premise (collecting all the MacGuffins and freeing the original King and Knights) far from resolution.
- Learning With Pibby ended with clear plans for a TV series, with several plotlines unresolved, many questions unanswered and the Darkness still on the loose. In spite of the hullabaloo surrounding the short and subsequent promotion by [adult swim], the creator later said the show hadn't been picked up and likely wouldn't ever be.
- Little Bill was another show that wound up being cancelled when a voice actor who worked on it passed away, with the person in question being Gregory Hines, the voice of Big Bill.
- The Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors ends with clear plans for a TV series as several plotlines are unresolved, but one wasn't made.
- Metalocalypse was originally planned to have four seasons and a movie, then ended up in a cliffhanger to make a final one. Unfortunately, Adult Swim and Brendon Smalls had a disagreement about the terms for the series, which led to its final season canceled. Many fans even signed a petition for it, but it fell on deaf ears and Adult Swim kept the rights to the Dethklok name. So instead, Brendon made a Spiritual Successor in the form of Brendon Small's Galaktikon, which served as an audio finale to the series.
- Megas XLR, while having something akin to a finale, still had the Glorft on the loose and Coop with a replacement for his Megas but with much better firepower.
- The Mighty B! ended after two seasons before Bessie could collect all the Honeybee Scout badges, and/or reveal that she was right about the whole super hero thing all along.
- Motorcity, from the same people behind Megas XLR, was cut down before its first season had even finished airing. Fortunately, due to having dealt with this trope twice beforehand (the first being Downtown), they had already written the season finale to double as a glorious grand finale in case it happened a third time.
- My Goldfish is Evil ended after 2 seasons, meaning Beanie never exposed that Bubbles is evil and/or stopped him once and for all.
- The Owl House had the crew learn during the production of Season 2B that, while they would receive a third season as they hoped, they were Only Barely Renewed, with said season consisting of only two 45 and one 55 minute specials. These specials did manage to wrap up the overarching narrative, however.
- Season 3 of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures concludes with new character Elliptica whispering to Pac the biggest hint to where his parents might be. The franchise was then rebooted back to the Classic designs and universe due to dwindling reception of the reboot, leaving Pac's quest to find his parents a mystery.
- While Phantom Investigators didn't end on a major cliffhanger, the final episode of its first and only season did imply that more was to come. Due to dissatisfaction with not having enough male viewers and too many female viewers, Kids' WB! canned the show as fast as it could. Taken even further in America as Kids' WB was so upset at not getting the exact demographic that they wanted that they removed the show from the schedule after only six episodes had aired.
- The Pirates of Dark Water ended before they could gather all 13 MacGuffins, or defeat the Big Bad. This was one of the first truly infamous examples of this happening in animation, so much so even Cartoon Network themselves humorously acknowledged the sudden cancellation in advertising.
- Planet Sheen was abruptly cancelled after one season due to low ratings before Sheen could return home to Earth or defeat Dorkus once and for all. There were plans for there to be a TV movie finale where Jimmy Neutron rescued Sheen, but it never came to fruition as a result of the show's cancellation.
- The Prince (2021) ends on a cliffhanger where Kevin gives the royal family poisoned tarts. Due to low ratings and very poor critical reception, it was quickly cancelled after only one season, and the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022 only makes its renewal seem even more unlikely.
- The Redwall cartoon was canned after three seasons before it could adapt any more of the books. The series finale, "Rose of Noonvale", plays out like a regular season finale for the show, but instead of ending with tapestry shots as usual, Tim Churchmouse asks the viewer to come back soon, which implies that more was to come, making one wonder what the producers were planning to do next.
- Return to the Planet of the Apes ended with no resolution to Bill, Jeff, Judy, Cornelius and Zira's efforts to end the status quo of humans being subservient to apes. While it was considered to renew the show for a three-episode second season to wrap everything up, it never came to fruition.
- The second season of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was originally meant to have 26 half-hours, was abruptly cut by half to 13 half-hours and eventually, the show was cancelled due to low toy sales. The series did get a Grand Finale in the form of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie on Netflix.
- Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat ended after one season due to a lack of merchandise and PBS being unable to compete with news coverage after the 9/11 attacks took place. Sure, there were no story arcs, but the last episode did imply that more was to come. Like with The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald mentioned below, it makes you wonder what the creators were planning next.
- Samurai Jack ran for four seasons before Genndy ended it to focus on other ventures, leaving no real ending. He personally viewed it as an extended hiatus, however, as he planned to make a theatrical film to wrap up the series. However, it would end up repeatedly stuck in Development Hell. There would be a comic book continuation a decade later that took place after season four, complete with its own grand finale, but Taratvosky considered its events non-canon. For his part, he would finally ditch the movie idea in the wake of the comic's success to produce an official fifth and final season for [adult swim] that aired in 2017, wrapping up Jack's adventure after a 13-year hiatus.
- Shazzan: Chuck and Nancy never found the ring's owner and never returned home.
- SheZow just stops after the initial 26-episode run, giving the impression that the series was intended to continue past the first season. Indeed, Word of God says the show was initially greenlit by The Hub for a second season, only for the network to change their minds a month later.
- Silverwing ended after just 13 episodes before the rest of the novels could be adapted for television. Thankfully it did conclude the second book’s story, so it was at least able to finish Shade’s main arc.
- Two animated shows starring Sonic the Hedgehog weren't fast enough to get their stories finished before cancellation.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) ended on a cliffhanger in which Dr. Robotnik appeared to have died but his increasingly dissatisfied henchman Snively has plans to usurp his place as the series' primary antagonist and revealing a threatening new foe, shown out of the darkness with menacing red eyes. Whoever this new character was, viewers never found out, as the series was abruptly cancelled due to declining ratings in favor of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, which was sharing the exact same time slot. Writer Ben Hurst revealed his plans for a third season where the mysterious red eyes belonged to Naugus, an Evil Sorcerer who Robotnik betrayed years prior. A movie titled Sonic Armageddon was at one point meant to have given the series a conclusion, but a combination of Ken Penders getting involved with the project and Sonic X beginning at this time meant this too never saw the light of day.
- Sonic Underground ended after only one season, way before Sonic and his siblings could even come close to dethroning Robotnik and finding their mother. Ian Flynn wanted to make his own conclusion to the story in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), specifically in Sonic Universe #50, but he was told that Sonic Underground was completely off limits to him. Even so, fans from all across the Internet have made fanmade reboots of the series, including this one, along with a fanmade Sonic Universe #50 bringing Ian Flynn's planned epilogue to life.
- SpacePOP was written off at a loss in August 2018, leaving the series to end on a cliffhanger where the princesses revealed their identities to Geela and Athena put on the Ring of Grock to try to defeat her.
- Another Spidey example is The Spectacular Spider-Man which left many a plot thread hanging. You can thank Sony and Disney's purchase of Marvel for this. Sony had to relinquish the television rights to keep the film rights.
- Spider-Man Unlimited ended on a cliffhanger after one season due to low ratings.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars was canceled very suddenly despite being successful. The creators were working on a sixth season and had story plans for a seventh and eighth season when Disney acquired the rights to the Star Wars franchise and ordered to finish the series, not wanting to Channel Hop the show to any of their networks as part of the acquisition. At this point, multiple episodes were still in different stages of production. 13 episodes were finished and composed Season 6 which aired on Netflix, 8 more were later released on StarWars.com with rough incomplete animation, some finished scripts were also adapted into the Dark Disciple novel and a Son of Dathomir comic mini-series. Despite all this, both the last broadcast and the last released episodes serve as a fit ending for the series: one ties up Ahsoka's arc and the other ends with a philosophical conclusion about the greater role of the Jedi in the Clone Wars.
- Also helping is that Disney later made the sequel series Star Wars Rebels, with Rex and Ahsoka making appearances.
- In July 2018, a seventh season airing on Disney's new streaming service was announced, with thunderous applause from the fans.
- The Stellaluna Direct to Video movie finishes with a seemingly clear plan for a TV series adaptation of the original book, but one never got made.
- When Stōked aired on Cartoon Network in the United States, the show ended at "Endless Bummer", which was the 22nd episode of the first season. The show had four more episodes of said season, and none of the episodes from the second season aired in the United States.
- The season 1 finale of Stroker and Hoop was as close to a literal cliffhanger as they come. The episode ends with Stroker, Hoop, and Double Wide plunging to a chasm when their captor intentionally lands on the release switch, after being held at gunpoint. Sadly, the show was axed afterwards due to financial reasons, though the creators were able to reveal what would have happened in the end, had the show had been renewed for a second season.
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! ended right when the Big Bad had been resurrected and the Hyperforce and all of their previous allies where about to go at him.
- SWAT Kats didn't end on a Cliffhanger, but the series abruptly got cancelled while the writers still had several episode ideas in planning.
- Sym-Bionic Titan, which was cancelled because they could not interest toy companies and a splintering of the production team that made it hard to keep it going, despite it being a widely loved show.
- Thunder Cats 2011 was cancelled after its first season, leaving it to end on a cliffhanger. At the time of its cancellation, the creators Shannon Eric Denton and Dan Norton were working on story ideas for a second season, which would've lasted for 39 episodes.
- Timothy Goes to School ended after two seasons (for a long time, it was assumed both seasons were one single season), with the last episode introducing Mexican student Juanita and her family, while also hinting more was to come.
- Transformers: Animated. Due to its abrupt cancellation, it ended with many unresolved plotlines and unexplored characters. The creators were able to weave a mostly satisfying ending, but still the final episode itself only resolved a fraction of the many plot points introduced earlier in the season.
- Trollz was canned after one season with its second season already in planning, and with the last episode hinting that more was to come. Several second season episodes had their titles prepared, but until Word of God reveals what those episodes' plots were, the fandom will be left without several answers.
- Every single one of the videos in the series The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald ends with an announcer telling the audience to look for Ronald's next adventure. This includes "The Monster O'McDonaldland Loch" even though it was the last video ever made. There wasn't an overarching story to the episodes so this wasn’t really painful, but it does make one wonder what the creators were planning next.
- Wander over Yonder met its fate because Disney thought that, despite the show's popularity, 40 half-hours episodes was long enough for the show and they could make more money by showing re-runs over even entertaining the crew's pitch for a third season. While the main conflict introduced in the second season was fortunately resolved, but some plot threads were still left dangling.
- W.I.T.C.H. got Screwed by the Network and ended after just two seasons, with the series finale introducing a new character and setting up an adaptation of the comic series' next story arc.
- Wolverine and the X-Men (2009): The last episode ended with a scene in which Apocalypse rules in the future leaving no clue as to what's going to happen next. The show only lasted one season.
