George R.R. Martin Names His Favorite TV Finale Ever

George R.R. Martin has crowned the greatest TV series finale of all time — and it isn’t Game of Thrones. Instead, the author behind A Song of Ice and Fire says HBO’s Six Feet Under delivered an ending no show has ever topped.

On his Not A Blog, Martin reflected on television’s “perfect episodes” and singled out the Six Feet Under finale, “Everyone’s Waiting,” as “far and away the best finale in the entire history of television,” adding that he “cannot imagine how anyone could possibly do better.”

A Finale That Faced Death Head-On

Six Feet Under, created by Alan Ball, ran on HBO from 2001 to 2005 and followed the Fisher family as they operated a Los Angeles funeral home. Each episode opened with a death, weaving mortality into every storyline.

The series finale, which aired on August 21, 2005, brought that theme to its natural conclusion. As Claire Fisher leaves for a new life in New York, the episode flashes forward to reveal the eventual deaths of the show’s central characters. The closing montage, set to Sia’s “Breathe Me,” has since become one of television’s most talked-about endings. Even now, it’s frequently described as the gold standard for series finales.

For Martin, the achievement stands apart from the rest of the series. He has admitted he didn’t love Six Feet Under as deeply as shows like Rome, Deadwood, or Fargo — but insists that final hour towers over television history.

What It Reveals About Martin’s Storytelling

The choice feels telling. Martin’s own fiction is defined by its unflinching approach to death and consequence. Major characters fall. Happy endings are never guaranteed. In that sense, Six Feet Under’s decision to show not just how people live, but how they ultimately die, aligns closely with the emotional architecture of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Martin famously wrote the explosive “Blackwater” episode of Game of Thrones, and he continues to shape Westeros on screen, from a planned Game of Thrones feature film to ongoing expansions of the franchise. He has also been vocal about what doesn’t work for him, previously criticizing other high-profile finales, including his blunt take on Battlestar Galactica’s ending.

His praise for Six Feet Under offers a rare glimpse into the bar he sets for long-form storytelling. For an author still working toward the conclusion of an epic saga, that standard matters. If Martin believes no one has surpassed “Everyone’s Waiting,” readers can safely assume he’s aiming just as high for his own final pages.