http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BolivianArmyCliffhanger

This is when a season ends with a cliffhanger that could have killed any number of the cast.

Useful because executives can then negotiate contracts with the cliffhanger in mind; i.e., "Take a pay cut or we will kill you off".

Compare Bolivian Army Ending (for the end of an entire work), Uncertain Doom (which occurs in the middle of a work or installment), and Our Hero Is Dead. If characters are revealed to have escaped from the fatal event after being shown or suggested to have been caught right in the middle of it (i.e. A bomb demolishing a building before anyone could get out), that's a Cliffhanger Copout.

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Ending Trope, so beware Unmarked Spoilers.

Examples:

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Anime and Manga

Code Geass the first season ends with two characters in a tense showdown and two gunshots, but doesn't show us who gets shot. And there's a massive battle to end all battles going on elsewhere. We only find out what happens in the next season, and even then, only halfway through the second season premiere.

Veritas, scheduled to have a second part to the story, ends with the lead starting a fight with Vera, the closest thing the series has to a Big Bad, having just awoken Yuri, the closest thing the series has to a Sealed Evil in a Can in order to get the 11th-Hour Superpower he needs to fight the first one. The last time he fought anyone he was not yet ready to fight Vera.

X1999's last chapter before it went into a hiatus is Kamui, lying on the ground while Fuuma holds the sword above his head with the intent to stab him and asks him what is his true wish.

Literature

A Song of Ice and Fire has several. As the story is told from the POV of several characters, even one book can have multiple Bolivian Army Cliffhangers. From previous experience, these characters tend to survive. A Clash of Kings: Davos ( suffers a shipwreck ). A Feast for Crows: Arya ( becomes blind ) and Brienne ( gets hanged ). A Dance with Dragons: Jaime ( meets Brienne, who probably wants to kill him ), Daenerys ( meets a Dothraki army ) and especially Jon ( stabbed ). Daenerys' example is notable because it's effectively a Bolivian Army Cliffhanger for both sides. Dany has a ferocious, Nigh-Invulnerable fire-breathing dragon on her side, after all.

The Princess Bride ends with the four main characters off their horses and surrounded by Humperdinck's army, resolved in the unfinished sequel.

Live-Action TV

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Video Games

Driv3r ends with Tanner flatlining after being shot by the Big Bad's Last Breath Bullet. A doctor seems to be getting a defibrillator ready, but the whole thing wasn't resolved until years later in Driver: San Francisco.

The mission "Of Their Own Accord" in Modern Warfare 2 ends with the US Army Rangers boarding a Blackhawk to cover the evacuation of civilians from a warzone. After gunning down multiple Russian gunners, the helicopter is shot down, and your character, Pvt. Ramirez, wakes up inside the wreckage as Russian troops are closing in, you run out of ammo, and Cpl. Dunn gets shot . The next few mission takes place on the other side of the world, with an entirely different protagonist. Then we are sent back to Ramirez, Foley, and Dunn, who thanks to the timely actions of the other protagonist and his squad, survives.

. The next few mission takes place on the other side of the world, with an entirely different protagonist. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel ends with the protagonist being forced to flee from a losing battle while the rest of his comrades stay to give him the time to run. The sequel reveals that they're all saved after the protagonist leaves, and they end up scattered across the country after their own escape .

. Episode 4 of The Walking Dead Season Two ends with the survivors in a Mexican Standoff between another Russian group. Rebecca starts to turn, causing either Clementine or Kenny to shoot her, then the Russian group opens fire. Smash to Black . No one in Clem's group dies in the ensuing battle, but Luke gets grazed in the leg, which proves to be his doom later on.

At the end of XIII, the conspirator's identity is revealed and the hero is left in a potentially deadly situation. It was never resolved in game form because the developers wanted that to happen; in the original comic book, the Mongoose is still alive and Walter Sheridan lets XIII live to avoid another conspiracy and since XIII has no evidence against Sheridan anyways. There also wasn't much more to do in terms of gameplay, nor satisfying plot, so the game was purposely ended there.

Web Comics

Guilded Age: End of Chapter 8. Which was also the end of act one. Turns out they are killed, but a couple chapters later they come back.

Web Original

Both the Season 1 and Season 2 finales of We're Alive. "The War" ended with the Tower besieged by the Mallers and Zombies. "The Harder They Fall" ended with the Tower crew fleeing the wreckage of the Tower on a helicopter headed for the unknown and leaving behind several of their comrade who they believed to be dead.

Season 13 of Red vs. Blue ends with the Red and Blues aboard the Staff Of Charon, barricaded in the trophy room and ready to fight the Space Pirates that are cutting through the door. Epsilon takes advantage of his faster perception of time to record a message for them , explaining that he needs to deconstruct himself in order to give them the power they need to win (effectively killing himself). Just as the action is about to start up, Epsilon fragments

Western Animation