Younger: Who Every Main Character Ended Up With

Summary Younger is a unique show defying genre tropes by not pairing everyone off for a 'happy' ending.

Characters like Zane and Diana have unclear relationship statuses post-show, leaving fans to speculate.

Liza and Josh's journey in Younger ends with a hint at a happy ending, mirroring their meet-cute moment.

Younger, as much as it is a series about friendship, careers, and making it in New York, is a show about relationships. Based on the book of the same name by Pamela Redmond Satran, the comedy-drama ran for 7 seasons between 2015 and 2021, and focuses on Liza, a recently divorced woman in her 40s who decides to pretend to be in her 20s. Like many similar shows, there's a central will-they-won't-they love triangle — in Younger, between Liza, Josh, and Charles — and everyone starts out single and finds their way through various dating mishaps to a (hopefully) happy ending.

Unlike many similar series, however, Younger does manage to avoid the trope of pairing everyone off in order to make their ending 'happy'. There are many characters in Younger who don't end up together despite many hints throughout the seasons that they were destined for one-another. This flipping of genre tropes on their head managed to make Younger incredibly memorable, though it does mean many viewers find that remembering exactly who ended up with whom by the end grows more difficult as the years since its finale roll on.

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Zane (Charles Michael Davis)

Presumably Single

Zane was, unfortunately, cut from the final season of Younger due to covid/scheduling complications, and after a quick explanatory scene where he dumps Kelsey, he is never heard from again. It's never confirmed exactly what happened to Zane, and there remains ambiguity around his relationship status after he left the show.

Fans will just have to guess at Zane's happy ending.

Viewers can assume that by the end of Younger, then, he is still single, as he was in his last appearance. However, it's not made explicit, because the end of his story is cut so unfortunately short. If there were to be a spin-off, he would be a great candidate to meet Kelsey in her new LA home, but as that is unlikely (thanks to Duff's commitment to How I Met Your Father), fans will just have to guess at Zane's happy ending.

Diana (Miriam Shor)

Married To Enzo (Chris Tardio)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch star Miriam Shor was a regular cast member on Younger, although her prominence on the show was significantly reduced by the ending. Diana was also cut from the final season for the same reasons as Charles Michael Davis, and it was a bigger blow to the series, as she was such a huge part of Younger for so long. She did get more of an ending, though, as her absence was explained by her decision to remain in Italy with her new husband, Enzo.

Diana's surprise happily ever after with a plumber was a sweet story for her final season on Younger, and fans can rest easy knowing that she is happily wandering Italy with Enzo, madly in love. She's one of the few characters in Younger for whom everything worked out, which was something of a surprise given how temperamental Diana could be at times.

Redmond (Michael Urie)

Dating Austin (Joseph Frederick Allen)

One of the most memorable recurring characters in Younger was Redmond, played by Ugly Betty and Shrinking star Michael Urie. Redmond announced in the finale itself that he had been in a relationship for eleven months, and that his boyfriend was looking for investors for a new musical.

It was an odd inclusion in the finale, and seemed added to both give Redmond an ending, and to make the point that Liza's big lie wasn't entirely forgotten. In the end, though, Charles gets her parody written out of the musical, and all is well that ends well. And, of course, Redmond gets his happy ending, as he settles down with Austin. Austin is played by Joseph Frederick Allen, a writer and creative from New York, and Younger appears to be his most prominent role to date.

Quinn (Laura Benanti)

Single

Laura Benanti's Younger character, Quinn, was something of an antagonist in the show when she appeared from season 5 onwards, so there was some amount of satisfaction for many viewers knowing that she was still single when it finished. Although Quinn spent most of Younger season 7 in a relationship with Charles, this was abruptly ended in the final episodes. Quinn heads off to tropical beaches, and Charles heads back into a relationship with Liza.

This is an ending that suits Quinn, in many ways, as she repeatedly shows herself to be too self-serving and harsh to be a really great romantic partner.

This is an ending that suits Quinn, in many ways, as she repeatedly shows herself to be too self-serving and harsh to be a really great romantic partner. She even ends her relationship with Charles, snapping at him and being rude and patronizing to him. It's hard to feel too sorry for her, in the end - especially since it means that Liza and Charles could be together once more (even if their reconciliation is brief).

Related Younger: The 10 Best Characters On The Series From love interests to friends, who is the best character on Younger, based on who they are and how they are written?

Charles (Peter Hermann)

Single

Law & Order: SVU and Blue Bloods star Peter Hermann appeared in all 7 seasons of Younger as Charles, a key romantic interests of Liza throughout the show. Younger played a bit of a bait-and-switch with Charles in the final season, as he spent much of it with Quinn. However, just when things seemed to be ending on a stereotypical note with Charles and Liza back together, the rug was once again pulled from beneath viewer's expectations.

One of the biggest surprises of the finale was that after leaving Quinn and getting back together with Liza, Charles ends up single — as he and Liza realize that they just keep lying to each other. Or at least, keeping secrets, and creating little 'tests' for each other, neither of which is a sign of a particularly healthy relationship. Thankfully, they are able to recognize this, and Charles ends the show single, and headed out for a new life as a writer.

Lauren (Molly Bernard)

Dating Max (Ben Rappaport) & Greg (Josh Cooke)

For a few episodes, Younger seemed to be hinting that Lauren would reunite with Max, the doctor that she dated for a while, before leaving him because she was worried that life with him would be too boring and traditional. In the end, she does get back together with Max — but not in a traditional relationship structure. The ending of Younger defied many genre-conventions, and Lauren ending in a polycule was one of them.

She ends up connecting with Max and his new fiancé, Greg, and the three decide to create a new relationship dynamic together. Sadly, this doesn't get a lot of screentime or exploration, but it's great to see Lauren end up in a relationship that fulfills her desire to be with a kind, stable doctor (doctors, in fact), and to be doing something that could never be called heteronormative.

Maggie (Debi Mazer)

Starting A New Relationship With Cass (Janeane Garofalo)

The polyamorous relationship between Lauren, Max, and Greg isn't the only way Younger explored non-heteronormative and LGBTQ+ relationships, as the presence of That's Life and Good Vibes star Debi Mazer as Liza's lesbian best friend Maggie ensured that the show had a consistent level of queer representation. Maggie was a key part of the success of Younger, and her eventual fate raised eyebrows just like most of the other characters.

Maggie is a woman who always seemed to enjoy being single, so to have her decide that she is suddenly 'in love' with a woman who nearly ruined her was a strange choice for the show.

In another big surprise ending, Maggie ends up starting a relationship with Cass — the woman who hired her as a professor, then got her fired and canceled as a transphobe (for the title of a show put on decades before), then helped her relaunch her career in the end. This was, in many ways, a disappointment — Maggie is a woman who always seemed to enjoy being single, so to have her decide that she is suddenly 'in love' with a woman who nearly ruined her was a strange choice for the show.

Kelsey (Hilary Duff)

Single

Played by Hilary Duff in Younger, Kelsey spent much of the final season in a relationship with Rob, but that came crashing down in the final episodes when Rob turned out to be self-serving and manipulative — looking to take a whopping 20% of her app deal for his 'contacts'. Kelsey, rightfully, shut that down, and the relationship with it.

This decision, while empowering for Kelsey, did mean that she ends Younger single, but that's also not a bad thing. While Kelsey has always been open to love, her career has always come first, and seeing her end up with a new business and a bright new LA future is much more satisfying than seeing her with another less-than-stellar romantic choice. It's yet another way that Younger reinforces the message that romance isn't the be-all-and-end-all of life, as — despite being a show with a heavy focus on love — Kelsey and many other characters view it as secondary to their ambitions.

Liza (Sutton Foster) & Josh (Nico Tortorella)

Single, But Probably About To Get Together

Liza is the central character in Younger, and the show revolves around her life after lying about her age and pretending to be in her 20s when she's in her 40s. This starts when 26-year-old Josh, played by The Following star Nico Tortorella, mistakes her for being the same age as him. Their meet-cute in the first episode acts as a catalyst for the show, and the ending brings the narrative full-circle by more-or-less repeating it.

Liza and Josh's final scene echos their first meeting, right down to Liza joking about his tattoos — but there are a few key differences. The big one, of course, is that when Liza says that she didn't see him, Josh replies that he was "right here all along", a (very) thinly veiled hint that he was always her ideal partner, and now they can get back together. Younger fans are denied the satisfaction of seeing them end the show with a kiss, but it's very clearly an ending that points to the two of them living happily ever after.