Cliffhanger

A story ending that leaves a decisive event unresolved, creating suspense about what happens next.

Suspense: A state of anxious uncertainty about how an unresolved situation will turn out. The unresolved outcome is the central source of a cliffhanger’s suspense.
Serial fiction: Fiction published in separate installments over time. Installments often end on unresolved events that encourage audiences to return.
Resolution (narrative): The point at which a story’s central conflict reaches an outcome. A cliffhanger postpones the resolution of a decisive conflict.
The Perils of Pauline: A 1914 American silent film serial starring Pearl White as an adventurer facing recurring dangers. Its perilous installment endings helped popularize the cliffhanger in cinema.
In medias res: A narrative technique that begins a story in the middle of its events. A cliffhanger can interrupt action already underway, withholding its immediate result.
Television episode: A single installment of a television series, usually part of a larger narrative or program. Episode endings frequently use cliffhangers to propel viewers into the next installment.
Open ending: A conclusion that leaves a story’s meaning or outcome open to interpretation. An open ending may invite interpretation without suspending action for a promised continuation.
Who Shot J.R.?: A 1980 television mystery about the shooting of J. R. Ewing in the series Dallas. Its season-ending unanswered question became a widely recognized television cliffhanger.
Dramatic irony: A narrative effect in which an audience knows something important that a character does not. Cliffhangers can sharpen suspense when the audience understands danger the character cannot see.
Chapter (books): A division of a book that organizes its text into sections. Chapter breaks can suspend action at a moment of uncertainty.

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