My Name Is Earl aired for four seasons on NBC before it was cancelled, and the creator has revealed how he would have ended the series if it had continued on to a natural end. The series ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, but Greg Garcia did have a plan in mind for how to wrap things up.
In a Reddit AMA, he revealed how he would have ended the comedy series if he had been able to close it out. He said:
“I had always had an ending to Earl and I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to see it happen. You’ve got a show about a guy with a list so not seeing him finish it is a bummer. But the truth is, he wasn’t ever going to finish the list. The basic idea of the ending was that while he was stuck on a really hard list item he was going to start to get frustrated that he was never going to finish it. Then he runs into someone who had a list of their own and Earl was on it. They needed to make up for something bad they had done to Earl. He asks them where they got the idea of making a list and they tell him that someone came to them with a list and that person got the idea from someone else. Earl eventually realizes that his list started a chain reaction of people with list and that he’s finally put more good into the world than bad. So at that point he was going to tear up his list and go live his life. Walk into the sunset a free man. With good karma.”
Garcia also revealed that he had asked the network if it was okay for him to end the season on a cliffhanger. The network told him to go ahead, and it was only after that NBC decided to cancel the series. Garcia might have written a different season four finale if he had known the network was going to cancel the series.
In addition, Garcia also planned to reveal who Earl Jr’s father was before the show ended. The writers were thinking that it would be someone famous who’d been in town for just one night. The writers didn’t get to decide who that would be, but the baby daddy was intended to be revealed before the series ended.
Were you a fan of My Name is Earl? Did Garcia’s reveal give you closure for this series? Tell us what you think.
(In Joy’s voice) “hail, no, ee’it didn’t hail’p’! Whe wonn’a sae anoth’a saeson, daem’it!”
Please bring this show back!!! The BEST SHOW IN YEARS!!!
I started the series on Netflix since I didn’t remember watching it when it aired. I almost finished all episodes and wife decided to start it up and I rewatched all and then finished last few and was so disappointed how it left a cliff hanger on series. It had a amazing cast and a message that can be transferred to life. My daughter is almost finished with it and know she will be as devastated as I was. For the love of god at least do 1 last hour long episode to clear the bad karma. Since the 1… Read more »
Keep going with it . 8 to 10 seasons
Hi my name is Jerry I love my name is Earl I have all seasons but because the show didn’t end that makes it not so good that’s the issue with movies and TV shows they will start making one then change the actor’s in them making them lose rating it’s best to keep it real please keep my show going it’s awesome there’s so many ideas to keep this show going I’m a big movie fan and collector P.S just because you hit a snag doesn’t mean you should drop it bad carma
It’s bull that it was canceled with such high ratings, everyone loves my name is earl and more petitions need to go around
The best show ever made! I can’t stop laughing. People have lost their humor. Sure it was political , racial of every color and religion, but it was done if you watched though very light hearted and just funny. I would give anything to see a season 5. I wish they could bring it back. Good American Humor. Casted perfectly
I think a movie or final season to finish things off would be great, I have read the rough idea about what Greg Garcia had planned for ending it and would be happy to lend some funding towards the creation of it or maybe start some petition for this to be made if any other readers or fans agree with me please email me and we can get something sorted out maybe so we can get a real ending.
Man I know an army of people that would want that. The best funny show ever made. They are so well casted. They pick on everyone equally in a light hearted way. I keep watching them over and over to get a laugh. They always end it on a good note. How do we get back Earl?
I love the show, I have watched the whole series like 5 times start to finish, they need to make another 4 seasons so I can watch those also… thank you
I really do wish that season 5 wouldnt be cancled but I guess there’s nothing we could or can do. I will miss me turtle and crab man
I loved this show so much, I barely started watching it a couple weeks ago and I was so sad to finish it especially with that cliff hanger but getting to know what would’ve happened was satisfying, I still would’ve loved to watch it happen and I have no idea why this show got canceled. It’s 2017, I’m 14 years old and this is one of my favorite shows, I think it needs to come back, overall it was an amazing show.
You guys should continue the series
I love this show SOOO much. It’s one of the few shows I can literally watch over and over. The writing is brilliant, the characters utterly endearing, the concept is original and hilarious and the cast are simply amazing. I’m yet to see a better “drunk” than Joy! The planned season 5 conclusion would have been perfect. I wish I had it sitting alongside the other 4! ☹️ No other comedy series comes close for me!
I loved this show so much! I looked forward to watching several episodes on Netflix recently til I saw them all tonight…I had NO IDEA the show was cancelled on a cliffhanger! I was very disappointed but it could have gone worse I suppose. I really enjoyed this show and I’m sure I will watch it many times over again!
hey Earl hey Crab Man Loved the show been watching dvd’s since the show ended would love to see the ending and know who Earl Jr father was maybe Don King,