Chuck vs the Goodbye: 10 Years Later

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Chuck series finale. It feels like a decade and also like it was just yesterday.

It was an emotional time. Many of us had been fighting for this show since season 2. We were invested in Charah, in Carmichael Industries, in Casey and his daughter Alex, in Morgan and his growth (and Alex), in Ellie and Captain Awesome and Baby Clara, in JEFFSTER! and the Buy More. I remember weeping as I watched the final episodes the night before and wrote up as non-spoilery of a preview as I could.

Then the rest of the world saw those final episodes, and there was much to say. Our annual survey showed that most people liked or even loved the finale, but the final scene of Chuck and Sarah on the beach left many viewers feeling like the ending was ambiguous. The debate over the finale was long and fraught. We even invited Chris Fedak to join us on Chuck vs the Podcast and answer your questions.

But that was then. Since it aired on NBC, Chuck gained a whole new audience through livestreaming – technology that was in its infancy when the show ended in 2012. In recent years, we’ve endured a global pandemic together which, in its earliest days, brought the cast of Chuck together again for a script reading to benefit Feeding America. More people found or returned to Chuck, looking for something comforting in the midst of uncertainty.

We’ve heard from you via email and social media, the folks who discovered Chuck and Sarah and Morgan and Casey and Ellie and Awesome and the Buy More crew years after the show ended. We’ve also heard from the folks who watched it live “back in the day” and returned years later, rediscovering the special mixture of action, humor, heart, and soul that is Chuck.

It’s been 10 years since Chuck and Sarah last sat on that beach, but somehow, it feels like yesterday.