The Finale (Will & Grace)

"The Finale" is the two-part season finale of the eighth season of the American television series Will & Grace. The episode is the 23rd and the 24th episode of the season, and the 193rd and the 194th episode overall, and originally served as the series finale prior to the announcement of a 16-episode ninth season revival slated for the 2017–18 TV season. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 18, 2006, when it was watched by an average of eighteen million viewers, making it the most watched episode of the final two seasons of Will & Grace. In the finale, Will and Grace have a falling-out that lasts for years. They each have a child with their respective partners, and eventually reconcile when their children (Laila and Ben) meet at college. Meanwhile, Karen's arch-enemy Beverley Leslie makes an offer to Jack which ultimately leads to Jack inheriting Beverley's fortune.

The episode was written by series creators and executive producers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick and directed by James Burrows. Filming took place at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California in April 2006. The cast members took the news about the show ending well, but they became emotional as the final scene was being filmed. NBC heavily promoted the finale, and the main cast members appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show to bid farewell. An hour-long series retrospective, "Say Goodnight Gracie", featuring interviews with the cast, crew, and guest stars, preceded the hour-long series finale.

Since airing, "The Finale" has received mixed reviews from television critics. Within the series continuity, when Will & Grace began its ninth season 11 years after this episode aired, most of the events of "The Finale" were retconned out of existence. Although Grace and Leo did remarry, neither Grace nor Will ever had children, Karen did not divorce Stan, and Jack never married Beverley Leslie; the entire episode was said to have been a drunken daydream of Karen's. Since Grace was pregnant for most of season 8, and her pregnancy affected the storylines of the entire season, it is presumed that she lost the baby and did not conceive again while remarried to Leo. However, this is never addressed in the revival series.