Open to interpretation but Hideaki Anno had depression and the tv ending to me reads as a depressive episode/ptsd response to all Shinji had been through. Unlike most mecha shows to-date at that point, even Gainax's own works, Evangelion does not end with a smiling hero but instead a broken child who has been through hell on earth. TBH I think the TV ending is brilliant and the movie was partially a bandaid because people didnt like the tv ending