When an adaptation must have an ending, but is based on a work that has not finished yet, there are two possible solutions. One is to give the show some emotional closure without actually ending the plot in any significant way. Many fans will just complain this is a "non-ending" of sorts. When this involves a romance arc, the result can be either NoRomanticResolution or MaybeEverAfter, which may or may not be satisfying.

However, some productions opt instead for a Gecko Ending -- creating a conclusion/GrandFinale for the show out of whole cloth which resolves (or hastily buries) all the show's [[LeftHanging hanging threads]] and unresolved plot elements. Naturally, this requires that the viewers ignore many later revelations in the original work or it will make no sense, even if the series' plotline so far has been pretty similar.

There's also a third option -- wait for the writer to get farther ahead -- but that would involve waiting, which, for works with tight production schedules, is usually not a realistic option. Of course, you could always use {{Filler}} until they catch up. A major risk with this approach is the possibility of AuthorExistenceFailure occurring, particularly if said author has yet to complete a work and is now elderly or in ill health.

Naturally, restarting the story at this point would have to involve either: a) an extreme tangent to the original material, or b) abandoning the plot so far and starting up an AlternateContinuity. Not that either option hasn't been implemented, either.

The trope name comes from the behavior of the gecko, which will, if its tail is cut off, grow a new one.[[note]]For those who didn't understand the metaphor, the original work is the gecko, with the tail cut off for the adaptation. The adaptation then proceeds to grow a new tail, or ending.[[/note]]

In {{anime}}, this often implies that the series OvertookTheManga, but only in the broader sense that there's no {{manga}} ending available, not in the sense that there isn't enough manga to fit into the anime. In fact, a movie, {{OVA}}, or short series may have a Gecko Ending even after compressing and omitting large parts of the manga. Anime works are also sometimes prone towards restarting, exactly towards either the extreme tangents or Alternate Continuities mentioned above (''{{Naruto}}'', ''DragonBallZ'' and ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' all took some variation of this).

Recently, some studios have averted this trope by timing the anime to end around the same time as the manga. By working closely with the creator, they can produce a faithful adaption of the ending before it's published, and in some cases before it's even been drawn. This is obviously rather tricky, so most studios still prefer one of the above options.


[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* The ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' anime stops at a place in the manga where there aren't any plot bunnies left hanging, and before a new arc begins and a ton of new characters are introduced- around volume 6. The manga actually wrapped itself up nicely after 23 volumes with [[spoiler: the curse breaking and CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds]]
* ''MidoriNoHibi''. Fortunately, there was a story about halfway through the manga which needed only minor modifications to become a satisfying ending for the anime.
* The ''Manga/BlueExorcist'' anime goes in a very different direction from the manga after episode 15. Characters like the main character's mother and grandfather make an appearance and the BigBad true intentions are revealed. Things that manga has yet to address.
* [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist The 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' created a completely new second half with help from the Mangaka. Unlike with a lot of other series with Gecko Endings, the intention here was always to tell essentially an entirely different story, keeping only the starting point and the basic elements of the original. This was due to Arakawa believing that telling the same story twice would be pointless since she had so long to go with the manga and didn't want the story cheapened with {{filler}}, which they would have to rely on if they tried to adapt the manga story faithfully.
* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': The first anime (''Negima!'') parallels the volumes one through six of the manga in its first 20 episodes or so, and then hurtles into a sudden and somewhat hasty GrandFinale [[StoryArc arc]], in the process skipping over a vast landscape of storyline and character development and abandoning several plot threads just set in motion. It would appear that the studio had planned for more than one season to tell the full manga story, and then were disabused of that notion with less than a third of season left to tie things up. The result is a conclusion that, while dramatic and fulfilling the promise of the show's premise, is abrupt and seems to come out of left field with no warning -- especially the shocking event ([[spoiler:killing Asuna on her 14th birthday]]) that sets the concluding action in motion.
* The anime version ''GreatTeacherOnizuka'' generally followed the manga quite accurately at least to the point where the manga was when the anime was on air. The result is that the series gained a gecko ending in the last 2 episodes of the series to tie up all the loose ends and explain the actions of the class -- something which didn't occur in the manga for a few more volumes.
* ''KonjikiNoGashBell''
** The Gash vs. Brago shot may have foreshadowed the final battle of the manga.
* ''FlameOfRecca'' condenses a 33 volume manga's first major arc into 42 episodes. In order to wrap up the plot, they have both the BigBad [[spoiler: Mori Kouran]] and the [[spoiler: AntiHero Kurei die in a CAR CRASH]], proving once and for all that [[spoiler: several tons of steel are more efficient than a magical fire dragon wielding ninja. Kurei never even gets the opportunity to redeem himself -- he just dies as a baddie.]]
** Although the OVA seems to have fixed these issues.
* The makers of the ''{{GANTZ}}'' anime ''knew'' they'd have to make a Gecko Ending from the very first episode, and subsequently started planting hooks that would eventually become significant in the final arc, which was completely made up, right from the beginning. It's actually quite impressive seeing characters who appeared in the background of some early scenes showing up as major characters for the final game.
* The televised anime of ''{{Hellsing}}'' follows the general plot of the manga relatively well for a few episodes. Unfortunately the manga had not progressed much further than those episodes by the time the anime was produced. Consequently, the anime's creative team had to essentially go with what they had for the remainder of the series, as well as add a Gecko Ending. What resulted was a totally different plot from that of the manga (which finished around 7 years after the anime first aired), several characters unique to the anime, a BigBad that bears almost no relation to the one in the manga, and a quite strange ending that has several key characters experience rather different fates (ie. [[spoiler:Alucard is never trapped by the Schrodinger's Cat quandary and Walter survives with no mention of his traitorous past. Both of these plot points were, however, not present in the manga until many years after the anime was finished]].)
** The outcry for a more accurate and faithful anime translation resulted in the creation of ''Hellsing Ultimate'', a series of {{OVA}}s that follow the manga extremely closely.
* ''Manga/AirMaster'': The anime finished three years before the manga, it was inevitable, though completely strange. The ending was almost a mix between a cliffhanger and the quick tying of strings.
* Film example: ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', in which the loose ends were tied up in a far different fashion than in the manga (and much earlier, story-wise). Not a terribly surprising example, considering what a LongRunner the manga was.
* Single episode example: to promote the then-recently released ''{{Kirby}} Air Ride'', [=4Kids=] aired a two-part episode of ''KirbyRightBackAtYa'' featuring the Air Ride machines from the game. The problem? Those episodes were aired right before the three-part GrandFinale that had just aired in Japan, and [=4Kids=] was right in the middle point of the series in their dub at that point. Plus, by the end of the second episode they want to use to promote the game, the Warp Star and Cappy Town are destroyed. So what do they do to maintain the [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]] in their dub? They took the lazy way out, added in some footage from other episodes, and {{handwave}}d the fact that their two-parter was AllJustADream. Thus, they don't have to worry about the consequences of the episodes occurring too early in the dub's run.
* The ''Manga/ElfenLied'' anime mostly ties up the plot threads that had been opened so far and is quite faithful to the first chapters of the manga. However, it only manages to cover about half of the manga's storyline before diverging into its own continuity, thus missing out on most of the manga's major plot points and themes that were then only slowly being revealed.
* ''NaruTaru''. The show was abandoned half-way through, leaving much of the story [[LeftHanging hanging]], with the main villains barely appearing at all after the sixth episode and [[spoiler: there being almost no explanation of why Akira stabs her father]]. Considering how things went in the manga from thereon, it may have been for the better.
* ''{{Bokurano}}''. Apparently the anime's director wasn't too thrilled with the original manga and decided to take it in his own direction; the fact that he could justify it by the manga not having ended yet was just a bonus.
* ''{{Trigun}}'' is noteworthy for not only having a Gecko Ending, it has two key plot points to the manga which was finished about a ''decade later''.
* The manga of ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' eventually ran on to seven volumes; the feature film included elements from the first two volumes and an original ending. This is something of an odd example, as it was originally imagined as a film and the manga was made so it could be adapted into a film.
* ''{{X1999}}'' the movie and, to a lesser extent, the TV series. Though in this case the ''manga itself'' currently has NoEnding, since CLAMP stopped work on it abruptly and it's ''still'' on a cliffhanger.
* ''Anime/RecordOfLodossWar'' OVA, which received a gecko ending cause of budget restraints. The funny thing is the nature of this ending: It is the actual ending of the story, however with different characters. When they got the funding to make Chronicles of the Heroic Knight they basically told viewers to forget the second half of the OVA since they pick up the plot after the "War of Heroes" in the series. Which means the series in itself doesn't make sense if you don't know the OVA and it doesn't make sense if you know it but are unaware of the second half being a gecko. It still might not make sense to some viewers because of smaller inconsistencies due to the OVA also changing some events from the manga and novels, and thus missing the motive behind Ashram's anger in the TV series.
** Since non-Japanese reading fans of the franchise lack access to the original novels, the easiest way for them to make sense of the events in Chronicles of the Heroic Knight is for them to regard it as a sequel to the Record of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch manga. It's not the best way to solve the confusion, but probably the easiest, at least for English-speaking fans.
* ''KareKano'' ended up with one of these, as the author of the original manga was incensed by how the anime was handled and refused to allow another season.
* Every season of ''LightNovel/ZeroNoTsukaima'' ever.
** Here's a breakdown of how a season goes: the first two episodes are the exposition. The next 8 or so episodes are mostly {{fanservice}} and lulz with some plot in them, although the plot element is rather insignificant for the most part. The final trio of episodes undergoes radical CerebusSyndrome and goes from a [[IncrediblyLamePun tits and giggles]] {{Shonen}} fantasy/ romcom with a MagicalGirlfriend}} who is an extremely violent {{Tsundere}} to a very serious drama.
** Thankfully, the last season managed to end in a satisfactory way.
* ''{{Loveless}}'''s anime ended while the manga was still going, leaving us with a MindScrew non-ending.
* ''BusouRenkin'' has one of these in the ''manga'' due to an impending-cancellation-induced rush.
* ''{{Claymore}}''. Near the end of the series it became apparent there weren't enough episodes to reach the point in the story that would have provided both a satisfying climax and a canon end to the series. Thus small edits crept into the final canon arc helping to pave the way for a ridiculous and ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.
* The ''{{Spiral}} ~Suiri no Kizuna~'' manga was ''nowhere near'' a conclusion, let alone the answer to the series' two big mysteries, when the anime ended. On the bright side, [[spoiler:Kanone didn't die...]]
* ''TsubasaChronicle'', when animated (somewhat faithfully at first, to vehemently anti-canon later on) by Beetrain, "ended" the series at the end of Season 2, when [[spoiler:Sakura encounters a boy who seems to love her even more than Syaoran, but that boy is actually made of a ton of feathers. And no, Sakura doesn't end up absorbing a single one.]] In a dialogue between Kurogane and Fai, Kurogane asks if the journey will ever be over, and Fai responds that he doesn't want the journey to ever end.
** The series had five {{OVA}}s produced that picked up where the last canon episode by BeeTrain left off after the Rekord Country arc. The first three {{OVA}}s, Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations, continued exactly from that spot, which was good since those who didn't read the manga could still follow the story. Unfortunately, the second two {{OVA}}s, Shunraiki, picked up ''two whole arcs'' later after the Infinity and Celes arcs in the manga. Many fans who had not read the manga were pretty confused about what was happening.
* ''{{Eyeshield 21}}'' anime stops right after the FinalBattle between Sena and Shin. After some talk, the anime shows Sena being announced in the NFL, along with a few other characters, while the manga continues on with the Devilbats facing fiercer and stronger opponents in the Tokyo Tournament. The manga finished mid 2009, after a world wide football tournament where every major player in the series teaming up to take on the U.S.A. team. The manga ends with Sena, Kurita, Kotarou, Riku, Monta, Mizumachi, Unsui and Suzuna all going to Enma university together, with the rest of the players mixed and matched at other universities, and a SequelHook in the form of the Rice Bowl.
* ''SoulEater'' is a prime example. This manga series continued for nearly five years after the anime ended, at the rate of a chapter a month. For instance, [[spoiler:the witch Arachne turned herself into pure madness and tried to take over the world only to be countered by Maka's supernatural 6th sense enabling her to strike at her incorporeal form.]] The anime series had [[spoiler:Arachnae die on screen by being eaten by the Kishin, who also dies on the TV screen but is still missing in the manga.]] Though with Manga/FullmetalAlchemist getting a manga faithful series reboot, it may very well be possible for Soul Eater to get the same treatment when it finishes.
** Something like the first FMA, the anime split off from the manga just early enough to establish the differing storyline rather than just slotting one in once they reached the final few episodes. Which is fortunate, given using the Baba Yaga arc as it stands in the manga would have left far more plot threads hanging. For instance, Kidd's Sanzu Lines of Shinigami (those white stripes in his hair) turned out to be a very big plot point in the manga, but not until much later on; in the anime they were consolidated into a HeroicSafeMode that bordered on AssPull.
** Given that the anime was made by Studio BONES (which also did the FMA anime) the possibility of a second anime series that follows the manga to the end (whenever that will be) is rather high. There's probably many fans who would love to see some of the newer arcs animated. Granted, both [[spoiler:Medusa, Arachne, and the Kishin]] were all killed in the anime, so if they do continue it'll have to ignore the first anime's continuity.
* ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' handled this in a rather unique way, doing away with the manga's plot completely in the animated adaption, and concentrating on the WidgetSeries side of the story, though it [[GainaxEnding developed a plot of its own in the last few episodes.]]
* ''VenusVersusVirus'''s anime ending was [[MindScrew confusing]] to many [[InternetBackdraft fans]], as the fates of the two main characters were [[LeftHanging unresolved]].
* ''KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'''s anime ending was a gecko ending, only volume 2 of the manga had came out when they began the anime. Oddly enough,the anime and manga endings are remarkably similar.
* The ''GetBackers'' anime only did a fraction of what had been done in the manga by that point, with about a fourth of the series being one-episode fillers and the last eight episodes being a rehash of an earlier arc. The finale attempted to kinda-resolve the established mystery of the "gods" who controlled Mugenjou and Ginji's possible connection to them, but didn't bother addressing the other mysteries surrounding the supporting cast. Or the other main character, for that matter. Poor Ban almost comes across as Ginji's sidekick, instead of his partner. What makes this even more noticeable is that for the portion of the series that is directly adapted from the manga, it's a ''remarkably'' accurate and thorough transplanting of the action from the comic page to the screen, right down to tiny asides of dialogue that hint at greater mysteries to come... which the anime then never gets to.
* ''{{MAR}}'' is an odd example in that the manga ended way before the anime did. The producers however thought the manga ended with too many loose ends. So entirely new content was added in near the end of the series, resulting in a Gecko Ending. That's right: a manga that ended ''before'' the anime got a Gecko Ending. And thanks to someone who had the balls to use ExecutiveMeddling ''correctly'', you get to enjoy a more satisfying conclusion.
* ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'''s 2nd sequel, ''Reload: Gunlock'' went this road, especially with the author's health problems in recent years- interestingly, for a long time, it was thought that the direction the season BigBad Hazel Grouse had gone in was completely random. ...And then the most recent volume of the manga came out.
* The movie version of ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' was made while the manga was still being serialized in ''Weekly Jump'', specifically during the Raoh story arc. In the original theatrical release, the final battle ended with Raoh winning over Kenshiro, but spares his life after being dissuaded by Lin from killing him. Kenshiro leaves Lin and Bat to continue his search for Yuria, who mysteriously disappeared during the final battle for no reason (she is last seen with Bat and Lin), with no mention of her role as the last ''Nanto'' General or any of the other ''Nanto Seiken'' masters besides Shin and Rei. The alternate ending in the Japanese VHS release has Kenshiro ending the fight in a draw (just like his first fight with Raoh in the manga), but otherwise plays out identically to the theatrical ending.
* ''DNAngel'' followed the manga somewhat closely for most of its run, then added a slightly rushed ending onto the end of it. Of course, given that the manga version has been put on hiatus enough times that it's STILL not finished, this is currently the only ending we even have.
** Which could also be said for CLAMP's X/1999.
* ''Manga/BlackButler'' definitely has a gecko ending. Only about the first nine episodes of the series up to the end of the JackTheRipper arc (and parts of the much less popular "Curry arc") can be considered canon. After that it [[OvertooktheManga over takes the manga]]. The manga only has 38 chapters as of right now and considering production on the anime probably started about a year or so before that they didn't have tons to work with. Even so, the ending could have been better and not have left loose ends hanging... But ultimately it doesn't really matter for fans hoping for a faithful adaption since [[TheyJustDidntCare the second season]] is [[GenreShift completely original material]] with a bunch of new characters and [[BrokenBase overall left the fan base]] ''very'' [[FanonDiscontinuity divided]].
* ''{{NEEDLESS}}'': The anime diverged from the manga in Episode 22 and ended with a final battle with Arclight, rather than having the group scattered.
* ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'''s anime ended in such a way, with a two-episode plot about the club possibly closing down. While it doesn't really leave any loose ends, there ''is'' the frustration of not knowing who [[SweetPollyOliver Haruhi]] picks...
** It pretty heavily implies Tamaki, considering everything, but yeah, they left it open so a second season COULD start if they were ever picked back up.
* ''NagasareteAirantou'''s Anime totally overhauled the second groom catching contest so that Ikuto was fighting the four chieftains to meet the sea god [[KnightTemplarBigBrother in order to save his sister]]. In the process, he also [[spoiler: [[WhatTheHellHero found the lost men of Airantou and didn't tell them where their women were]] ]].
* ''PandoraHearts'' pulled a BIG Gecko ending after the Ada arc that left anyone who was running through both simultaneously shocked. Especially considering that up until that point it had followed the manga flawlessly.
* ''HighSchoolOfTheDead'': Anime ends with the main cast [[spoiler: leaving Saya's house in a humvee, ditching it in the highway 'cause of "them", and walking towards the shopping mall, but haven't met with a policewoman, who's going in the opposite direction]]. The manga just finished with those plot points, although with in different ways.
* Played with in ''[[BoBoBoBoBoBoBo Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo]]'', the final episode in the anime ends shortly after a new BigBad was released, new villains with insane new powers were starting to show, and everybody is rushing to do battle with the new villains. It's even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the last three seconds when Beauty exclaims, "Wait, this is the last episode?"
* ''{{Karin}}''. [[spoiler: Karin's entire family is subject to DisneyDeath, the last-second villain more or less gets the evil sucked out of him, and Karin's nosebleeds are never resolved. The only closure is Kenta letting Karin "inject" him anytime he wants.]] The manga, on the other hand, went in a different direction much earlier, lasted longer than the anime, and provided a [[BittersweetEnding slightly more downbeat,]] but altogether more conclusive ending.
* A weird instance with ''Anime/BtX''. The anime's last 14 episodes (actually [=OVAs=]) were rushed out even though the manga still have several years to go. As such the final few Devil Knights are arbitrarily forgotten, Juggler doesn't undergo a HeelFaceTurn, we never see the Machine Emperor, and Aramis just kinda... goes away. The manga's leadup to the final battle with Raphaello is, as you'd expect much better. But here's where the irony comes into play: in the manga, the final battle with Raphaello is insanely short and lacking any kind of fulfilling climax, whereas the anime's is a much more emotional affair complete with a TearJerker of an insert song.
* ''Manga/ShamanKing''. Granted at the manga ended with a Gecko Ending too with Manta suddenly dreaming of the cast in fairy tale getups and heading off to rescue ''Princess'' Hao (your guess is as good as mine). But this was eventually rectified with special edition volumes which properly closed the story. The anime which had largely diverged from the manga midway through the storyline ended with a typical final battle between Yoh and Hao and a GondorCallsForAid bit for Yoh to achieve victory. Though if anyone has read the manga you'll know [[spoiler: that killing Hao doesn't solve the problem as he has the power of reincarnation and can come back some years later.]] But hey it was a ending so meh.
* ''Manga/ZeroSevenGhost'', notoriously so, ended before the actual adventure even started.
* ''LightNovel/OreNoImoutoGaKonnaNiKawaiiWakeGaNai'' has not one but ''two'' Gecko Endings on a row. Particularly bad because the second one finished what was touted as the "True ending to the novels!", but... [[CaptainObvious it wasn't]].
* ''CrossGame'' is one of the first series to use the aversion method mentioned in the description. Since Mitsuru Adachi had the whole manga mapped out before it began, the anime producers were able to create a faithful adaption of the entire manga, even though it was nearly a year away from ending when the anime began airing. Both the anime and manga concluded within a month of each other, with nearly identical endings.
* The anime of ''PsychicAcademy'' only went through a third of the events of the manga, ending right after it had just finished ''defining'' the love triangle, without making the slightest effort to resolve it.
* The anime of ''OmamoriHimari'' ends with the demise of a powerful evil ayakashi, potentially giving hope for Yuuto's dream of human-ayakashi coexistence. It doesn't even attempt to resolve his UnwantedHarem problems.
* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'' averted this for the first season, simply using a badass manga chapter for its ending. The second season, however, completely made up the last two episodes, finishing a plot the manga didn't end until the next ''year''. Meaning there's almost no manga plot left except the one used for TheMovie. Yet they announced a third season. A RetCon dooms near.
* The ''{{DearS}}'' anime did this.
* The ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'' anime followed the manga closely until the Akumano Academy arc, where it diverted greatly in the final moments of the penultimate episode, and it ended with [[spoiler:Baby Beel and the other demons returning to their world, only to return to our world shortly thereafter]].
* ''RosarioToVampire'''s second season not only had to end before the relevant manga was finished, but also had to adjust for the fact that the ''first'' season had only covered a small part of the manga's first ten volumes. (The biggest difference is that Tsukune never [[spoiler:went ghoul and needed a soul-lock gizmo to keep him human]].) This led to an entirely new GeckoEnding involving a character we hadn't met in the manga yet.
* ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'''s first anime season starts diverging after the conclusion of the Balbadd arc where they switch between anime-only and manga content throughout the ''Sindria'' arc, but diverges completely into an anime-only territory throughout the ''Zagan'' arc where everything goes haywire; [[spoiler:not only changing around the whole reason for going to Zagan's Dungeon, but adding an anime-original ending where Alibaba gives in to the influence of black rukh, and ending up as a fallen King turning on his companions to be defeated as the anime's GeckoEnding instead of what occurs in the manga where a trap is established for the main cast once they completed the dungeon and are rescued by their Sindrian teachers]]. The odd part is that despite how much the manga content changed here, it still ends up following the manga again when the second season started.
* ''MurderPrincess'' has one of these, which is odd because the manga is only two volumes long and ended before the anime was made. (There was presumably some overlap in development time.) The anime largely agrees with volume one, but diverges sharply with volume two, right down to the nature of certain characters.
* ''{{Kuragehime}}'' does this, following the manga almost exactly for the first 4 volumes (in only 9 episodes, no less!), but then covering volume 5 and a couple chapters of volume 6 in broad strokes in the last two episodes, while hastily introducing an anime-only character and wrapping up plot-threads that wouldn't actually resolve in the manga for many more volumes.
* ''Anime/BlackCat'' is definitely one of the stranger examples. The anime debuted a year after the manga ended, so you wouldn't think there wouldn't be a reason for this. But still, the anime actually covered the ending of the manga before suddenly introducing it's own final story arc involving Eve's ultimate purpose, with only one minor bit of foreshadowing at the start of the anime and the suspicious lack of Dr. Tearju in the story to keep it from coming completely out of nowhere.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The ArchieComics run of ''Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAdventures'' started with an adaptation of two episodes of the cartoon show, revolving around the search for three mystical gems called the Eyes of Sardath. The cartoon wrapped up the storyline quickly, with several more episodes of searching culminating with Shredder grafting the three gems onto his helmet. The comic went off on a completely different plotline, until 45 issues later when an alien robot named Sardath showed up looking for his eyes...

* The movie adaption for ''ScottPilgrim'' was filmed before the final volumes of the series' release. The ending is based on early notes that didn't make it into the final copy of the book. But it still ends with [[spoiler:Scott and Ramona going through the Subspace door to start their relationship over, just like how the series ends.]]
** Interestingly, the movie originally ended with [[spoiler: [[FirstGirlWins Scott and Knives together]]]] because the script was written by someone who only had knowledge up to the end of volume five (which culminates in something of a DarkestHour for our hero) and Bryan Lee O'Malley's notes on volume six (which originally ended with Scott being alone, which would have been an even worse way to end a movie). They eventually redid the final scene so it fit with the book's actual ending, but much of the movie had been done with a different outcome in mind, so the revised final scene comes across as more of a BittersweetEnding.
* ''Lemony Snicket's ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' was made into a feature film while the book series was still ongoing. The film's story loosely adapts the first three books, but its ending is original, hinting at the secret society eventually revealed in the later books and Count Olaf's role in the house fire. Presumably it was written this way in case sequels based on the remaining books were never greenlit -- [[WhatCouldHaveBeen which turned out to be the case]].
* Similarly, ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' ends on a high note with Earth being rapidly rebuilt by the Magratheans and restored to the state it was in just before it was demolished, as well as Arthur and Trillian becoming an OfficialCouple. Again, sequels were a possibility, but poor box office performance killed their chances of getting made.
* The DirectToDVD movie adaptation of the teen girls' book series ''Literature/TheClique'' has an ending that's almost completely incompatible with what ended up being the conclusion to the book series (or for that matter, incompatible with the direction the book series had already taken up long before filming started)

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The relationship between ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' and its {{spinoff}} ''KnotsLanding'' produced a strange example. ''Dallas'' had an infamous plot twist in which it turned out that the events of the prior season had been AllJustADream. Problem was, ''Knots Landing'' had already based a number of plot developments on the death of Bobby Ewing, which was retconned out of existence by ''Dallas''[='=] "dream season". The two shows became [[AlternateUniverse alternate continuities]] from there on out. It was a GeckoEnding that took place in the middle of both shows.
* ''Anime/HellGirl''. Not the anime -- [[AnimeFirst that came first]]. But the LiveActionAdaptation didn't run long enough to do the back half of the anime's storyline, so it had an original ending which was ''very'' different.
* Defied with ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Due to author George R.R. Martin's extremely slow release schedule (understandable given that each volume is longer than ''The Lord of the Rings''), there's the very real possibility of the show overtaking the book series. The show's producers have already ruled out putting the show on hiatus to wait for the novels to finish, so instead they had GRRM tell them all of the important plot points he had already planned out so they can properly prepare for future seasons. GRRM, who is now in his mid-60s, has also acknowledged that he has also done this as insurance should AuthorExistenceFailure occur prior to him being able to complete the books.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The original 1988 Japanese computer versions of ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' were [[ObviousBeta rushed for release]], concluding the story on the cutoff point before third and the final act, even though a proper ending was already written for the game. ''VideoGame/SDSnatcher'' featured a very different version of the ending than what was actually included in the later [=CD-ROM=]-based [[VideoGameRemake remakes]] of the original ''Snatcher''. For example, unlike the CD-ROM version, [[spoiler:Randam actually survives at the end of ''SD Snatcher''.]]
* ''VideoGame/DeathGate'' mixed parts of the first four books in Literature/TheDeathGateCycle with a totally original ending, since the game was being written at the same time as the last book.
* The first ''RebuildOfEvangelion'' movie didn't have much to make a complete video game out of. To this end, the developers decided to have the game follow the events of the anime series after the events of the movie, leading to one of two endings: a bad ending that follows the events of ''EndOfEvangelion'', or a good ending where Rei doesn't follow through with the Human Instrumentality Project.
* ''NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStorm3'' takes place during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but since the manga was still ongoing at the game's release, the game's story ends after Naruto breaks Tobi's mask when Tobi escapes, thus ending the war, [[spoiler:instead of continuing with TheReveal of Tobi being Obito Uchiha and the war continuing]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Single episode example: Creator/FourKidsEntertainment's changes in plot from one episode of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' from [[http://forums.toonzone.net/showpost.php?p=2002845&postcount=1 its original version]] created a loose end, necessitating a ''very'' unsatisfying Gecko Ending [[http://www.angelfire.com/la3/goldenroad15/episode10.html tacked on in the dub]], without even bothering to explain things. In this case, they simply picked scenes from other episodes and redubbed them (which they've done quite a few times, although not for tacking on a new ending).
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': An in-universe example in the ShowWithinAShow / RecapEpisode "The Ember Island Players". In the episode the events of the series are retold, AbridgedSeries style, in the form of a play put on by a group of Fire Nation actors. Since this takes place before the series finale the characters don't know what the end of the story is going to be, so the playwright makes up his own climactic ending, wherin Zuko and Aang are both killed and the BigBad wins. Given the location, everyone in the audience except the Gaang considers this a HappyEnding.