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.
I agree with everyone else. Great show. Bring it back!!
Best show ever made,did not end right.bring it back
Please bring my name is Earl back I love that show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the show!!! Have watched every episode multiple times. BRING IT BACK!
this show ended way to soon. I was so mad to find out there wasn’t another episode on Netflix… BRING IT BACK!!!!!!
it is a bs way to end a show tons of people loved that show it was funny
I watched as many episodes as I could while this was on tv. I found it on Netflix and knew I would enjoy watching an episode here and there. But when I started watching episodes, I remembered just how much I liked the show. I binged watched every season. Had no idea that I was about to be so disappointed and out of nowhere…that was it. I enjoyed everyone in the show, one of the best sitcoms ever. Big thank you to Jaime tho, Joy is definitely my favorite. BRING IT BACK, NETFLIX! I agree with these guys!!!
No it didn’t. I still love that show and I often watch it on Netflix. Bring it back on Netflix for 1 or 2 seasons.
Bring it back! We need to have closure!
Please bring the show back its not freakin fare to us fans that watched the show to first off end with a cliffhanger and second not get a finishing season this is total BS and exactly what’s wrong with tv screw you NBC thanks a lot.
I was on the verge of heart broken withe the cliffhanger ending. Please bring it back
I think I might’ve found Greg Garcia’s twitter. He doesn’t seem to have many followers, so lets all unite and send NBC (@Nbc) and Greg (@whoisgreggarcia) a message of hope. #BringBackMyNameIsEarl
Honestly I would love to see new episodes of My Name is Earl. And now that he’s older you could say he crossed a bunch of stuff off and it would make sense. But that’s just me, anyways someone please start the show again!
Please Greg Garcia!!! my eight yr old loves the series and he’s heart broken last episode ended with a “to be continued…” and nothing happened after. It was a great show indeed, loved it so much, laugh so hard, funny thing tho, my son made a list himself! To me this show deserves the movie to give fans closure and even Raising Hope teases fans with a movie poster of My Name is Earl.
Great show and loved how Earl and Randy were together. The whole cast was awesome… Really wished they had been able to finish the series of at least given them half a season or something to finish it up…. Even better… Netflix should step up and let them finish it!