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.
This show need a minimum of 1 more season, if only to close it off properly. How do we start a petition. Netflix,Amazon, any network can give it a short revival.
Left me hangin…bring Back PLEASE
Wow the show scared me i still drive my 3rd elcamino and i want to be buried in it when i die ..me and earl were really brothers in a past life….
Started watching 4 weeks ago and got to the last episode really sucks it stoped like that thank you though loved every moment of it
I didn’t start watching My Name is Earl until 2020 and then I binged all four seasons. So happy Greg Garcia revealed what he had in mind for the ending. It is the funniest, best comedy I’ve ever watched and knowing the end is awesome. Thank you!
Hey Earl
Hey Crabman
This was and still is my favorite show me and I don’t know how many people love this show if y’all brought this back that would be a cash machine please bring it back think of the veiwers
I’m a 26 year old girl from San Angelo Texas I had watched raising hope and it was oddly the most similar situation I had ever met next to mine. I recently bought all four seasons of my name is Earl and it was so clever. Comedy can be very difficult and Greg Garcia used the irony of honest living that I grew up seeing and it is funny. Wall deserved to finish the season and confirmation on his list. Karma will come back for it
One of the best shows and concepts…. I was saw it ended but glad Greg Garcia fave us closure on how it would have ended and who Earl Jr’s dad may have been.
Loved the show, wish it was still going. It put hope out there that if you do good things good things will happen. Nope didn’t get closure, we want it back.
Thank you!!! Yes, this gave me much needed closure, lol! I was very disappointed the show was cancelled. I think the way he was going to end it was perfect. And I am very relieved to know the answer to the cliff hanger
i miss the show, it should come back, but so much time has gone by it probably never will.
i wanted a season 5 and got a to be continued i could barelly sleep until i found out how it was supposed to end yet i still wonder: who is earl jr. s real dad? after 4 great seasons there is even more questions like do darnell and joy break up after the D.N.A test? do randy and catalina start dating again? who was the other person with the list that explained the chain? who were catalina’s parents? what ever happened to ralph and sonny after season 3? and also who was darnel’s (harry monroe’s) real mom or brother… Read more »
I’m really disappointed that you all ended the show before they got to finish it. I liked it because it was so original. The only thing I did not care for is the occasionals diving into liberal ideologies. But even then it seemed like they were very honest about different points of view. This was the best thing I’ve seen on television in a long time. Most of what I see on television these days I find to be completely idiotic. My name is Earl seemed like it was very original and I’m really disappointed that you would not let… Read more »
Bring back my name Is Earl. I just finished it and I need to see how it ends