Neighbours spoilers follow from the final ever episode.

How do you end an iconic show for the second time in three years? In the case of Neighbours, which draws to a close today (11 December) after a two-year revival run on Amazon, the producers have clearly decided to look forward, not back.

When the show concluded for the first time in 2022, the star-studded finale was all about bringing the curtain down and celebrating the Aussie soap’s impressive legacy. Familiar faces returned from all decades and the series welcomed back viewers who hadn’t watched for years – four million tuned in for Channel 5’s 9pm farewell special, compared with the one million who usually watched the daytime episodes.

That finale did everything it was meant to do – creating a must-see prime-time event that saw Ramsay Street’s biggest superstars like Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce make unmissable comebacks. The buzz was so big that it’s even been credited as part of the reason Amazon decided to revive Neighbours for its fledgling Freevee service just a few months later.

The finale for the Amazon series was always going to be a more low-key affair. The show did lure back some cast members, but they were mainly stars who’d already played key roles in the Amazon run.

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In many ways, that’s no bad thing. Last time around, one of the only criticisms of a near-perfect finale was that some of the established cast were at risk of being slightly overshadowed by the big-name returnees and strong ’80s focus. By the time familiar faces started coming back in 2022, most of the ongoing stories had already been wrapped up.

There was no repeat of that this week, with high-stakes storylines for the Neighbours regulars running right up until the finish. First up, Monday’s episode saw the Varga-Murphy family take centre stage with JJ’s kidnap and the long-awaited return of Remi’s memory after her struggles with amnesia.

Tuesday’s edition then passed the baton to Holly Hoyland and the Rodwells, with the tragic loss of Holly and Andrew’s baby creating some truly heartbreaking scenes.

Ask any Neighbours fan about the highlights of the revival and there’s a strong chance that the Varga-Murphys, Rodwells and Holly (despite a few kidnaps too many) will be at the top of their list, so it was fantastic to see these talented cast members still at the forefront right at the end.

Revisiting the Linwell brothers saga was also a clever way of book-ending the Amazon era, after they’d been mentioned so frequently in the early episodes back in 2023.

Wednesday’s episode then closed the latest chapter of drama for Paul Robinson and Terese Willis as they professed their love for each other at a commitment ceremony, leaving the finale to deal with the last big question: what would happen to Ramsay Street?

Neighbours’ final episode focused on the biggest ever threat to the Street – an expensive new freeway which would lead to the demolition of all the homes. The shock development served as an effective – if unsubtle – metaphor for the threat facing Neighbours itself following Amazon’s decision not to renew the iconic soap after closing its Freevee service.

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Despite this, the tone of the finale was optimistic, hopeful and – dare we say – defiant. At times, it felt like the cast, crew and writers had received a sly whisper that they’d probably be back eventually, working on another revival in some form.

“Is it really over? All the history? All the memories?” Susan asked Karl in an early scene at the Kennedy house. “Feels like déjà vu.”

Later, in the closing scene, she told Karl and Paul: “Other communities have beaten the odds, we could be one of them. All day, I’ve had this sense: we’ve been here before. And we came out the other side bigger and better than before.”

Susan remains the heart of Neighbours, so it was fitting to see Jackie Woodburne getting another opportunity to knock it out of the park with a perfectly-pitched, moving performance. A timely reminder of what we’ll be missing out on now that Neighbours is disappearing from our screens again.

Kelly Gardner / Prime Video / FremantleMedia Australia
Paul then referenced “two viable options for the future on the table” (a message to any telly commissioners out there?) – Robinson Towers and Ramsay Hills, the new communities being proposed by him and Shane as alternative homes for the Ramsay Street residents. Susan corrected this to “three” options, vowing that she wouldn’t give up on the Street just yet.

Whether it’s wishful thinking or a grand masterplan that will only become clear later, Neighbours avoided getting too bogged down in nostalgia for the ’80s heyday. Instead, the show celebrated the successes of the last two years – before boldly pitching options for the show to perhaps be picked up again in a different form.

The real-life context is that Neighbours’ production company FremantleMedia Australia handed the Nunawading Studios – home of the show since the second season in 1986 – back over to the real-life landlord shortly after production ended in July.

This means that, in the event Neighbours ever did return, it wouldn’t have the familiar Ramsay Street backyard sets or the Lassiters Complex.

The price tag that comes with taking on Neighbours as an all-year-round soap has often been cited as one of the show’s main stumbling blocks. This is partly due to the show needing to recoup its own costs – renting out the large studios and filming on Pin Oak Court (the real-life location of Ramsay Street) all added up.

Throwing out the rule-book in the finale creates options for a more streamlined approach in the future – a move to a different street as a filming location for the new Ramsay Hills? Sticking mainly to less expensive interior/studio scenes in Paul’s high-rise building? A smaller cast? Fewer episodes?

For now, there’s no word on whether Neighbours will ever be back – and fans should probably manage their expectations rather than getting their hopes up. However, the unique approach to closing off the show has clearly provided possibilities for the future – and we’ll be rooting for them in the hope that something comes of it.