![Return of Tarzan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Return_of_Tarzan.jpg)
A sequel is a work of
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
,
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
or
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
that
continues the story of, or
expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
work of
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
, a sequel portrays events set in the same
fictional universe
A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...
as an earlier work, usually
chronological
Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It ...
ly following the events of that work.
In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a
series
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used in ...
, in which key elements appear repeatedly. Although the difference between more than one sequel and a series is somewhat arbitrary, it is clear that some
media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...
s have enough sequels to become a series, whether originally planned as such or not.
Sequels are attractive to creators and to publishers because there is less risk involved in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing new and untested characters and settings. Audiences are sometimes eager for more stories about popular characters or settings, making the production of sequels financially appealing.
In film, sequels are very common. There are many name formats for sequels. Sometimes, they either have unrelated titles or have a letter added on the end. More commonly, they have numbers at the end or have added words on the end. It is also common for a sequel to have a variation of the original title or have a subtitle. In the 1930s, many musical sequels had the year included in the title. Sometimes sequels are released with different titles in different countries, because of the perceived brand recognition. There are several ways that subsequent works can be related to the
chronology
Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , '' -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...
of the original. Various
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
s have been coined to describe them.
Classifications
The most common approach is for the events of the second work to directly follow the events of the first one, either resolving remaining plot threads or introducing a new conflict to drive the events of the second story. This is often called a direct sequel.
A is a work that follows the continuity of the original work(s), but takes place further along the timeline, often focusing on new characters with the original ones still present in the plot. Legacy sequels are sometimes also direct sequels that ignore previous installments entirely, effectively
retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
ning preceding events. ''
Superman Returns
''Superman Returns'' is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris (screenwriter), Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris based on the DC Comics character Superman. I ...
'', ''
Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
'', ''
Candyman (2021)'', ''
Cobra Kai
''Cobra Kai'' is an American martial arts comedy-drama television series and a sequel to the original ''The Karate Kid'' films by Robert Mark Kamen. The series was created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, and is distributed b ...
'', ''
Blade Runner 2049
''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...
'', the
''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy, ''
Ghostbusters: Afterlife'', ''
Terminator: Dark Fate'', ''
Robert the Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...
'', ''
Top Gun: Maverick'', and the ''
Jurassic World Trilogy'' are examples of legacy sequels.
A is a work set in the same universe, yet has very little, if any, inspiration from its predecessor in terms of its narrative, and can stand on its own without a thorough understanding of the series. ''
Home Alone 3
''Home Alone 3'' is a 1997 American family comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell in his directorial debut, produced by John Hughes, and starring Alex D. Linz and Haviland Morris. The film tells the story of an 8-year-old boy who defends his hom ...
'', ''
Species - The Awakening
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sex ...
'', ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'', ''
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift'', ''
Mad Max: Fury Road'', ''
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water'', ''
Spirit Untamed
''Spirit Untamed'' is a 2021 American computer-animated adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adv ...
'', ''
Big Top Pee-wee
''Big Top Pee-wee'' is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Randal Kleiser. A stand-alone sequel to '' Pee-wee's Big Adventure'' (1985), the film stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman with Susan Tyrrell, Kris Kristofferson, Penelope Ann Miller ...
'', ''
Cars 3
''Cars 3'' is a 2017 American computer-animated sports comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The sequel to ''Cars 2'' (2011) and the third installment of the ''Cars'' film series, the ...
'', ''
Space Jam: A New Legacy'', ''
The Suicide Squad'', and ''
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance'' are examples of standalone sequels.
A
spiritual sequel
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...
is a work inspired by its predecessor. It shares the same styles, genres and elements as its predecessor, but has no direct connection to it at all. Most spiritual sequels are also set in different universes from their predecessors, and some spiritual sequels aren't even a part of their predecessor's franchise, making them ''non-franchise sequels''. Examples of spiritual sequels in film include ''
10 Cloverfield Lane
''10 Cloverfield Lane'' is a 2016 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien ...
'', a spiritual sequel to the film ''
Cloverfield
''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yustman ...
'', and ''
Mute
Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak.
Mute or the Mute may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart
* ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
'', a spiritual sequel to the film ''
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
''. The video game ''
Deltarune
''Deltarune'' is a role-playing video game developed by Toby Fox. The player controls a teenage human, Kris, who is destined to save the world together with Susie, a monster, and Ralsei, a prince from the Dark World. During their quest to seal t ...
'' is also considered a spiritual sequel to ''
Undertale
''Undertale'' is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical ...
'', a similar video game.
A
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
is an installment that is made following the original product which portrays events occurring chronologically before those of the original work.
Although its name is based on the word ''sequel'', not all prequels are true sequels that are part of a main series. Prequels that not are part of a main series are called ''spin-off prequels'', while prequels that are part of a main series are called ''true prequels''. An example of a true prequel is ''
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins'' which took place chronologically before the events of the previous
''Tremors'' films. Another example of a true prequel would be ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
'', taking place mainly before ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...
'' but also having some scenes after and during it.
A sequel to the first sequel might be referred to as a "third installment", a , or a second sequel. ''
The Dark Knight Rises
''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is th ...
'', ''
Captain America: Civil War'', ''
The Matrix Revolutions
''The Matrix Revolutions'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the third installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, released six months following ''The Matrix Reloaded''. The film stars ...
'', and ''
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'' are examples of "third installment" sequels.
Parallels, paraquels, or sidequels are stories that run at the same point in time as the original story.
is a term used to refer to works which take place between events. Types include interquels and intraquels.
An interquel is a story that takes place in between two previously published or released stories. For example, if 'movie C' is an interquel of 'movies A' and 'B', the events of 'movie C' take place after the events of 'movie A', but before the events of 'movie B'. Examples can include ''
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' of ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' and some films of ''
The Fast and the Furious
''Fast & Furious'' (also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'') is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. The franchise also includes short films, a t ...
'' franchise. An intraquel, on the other hand, is a work which focuses on events within a previous work. Examples include ''
Bambi 2
''Bambi II'' (also known as ''Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest'') is a 2006 American animated drama film directed by Brian Pimental and produced by the Australian office of Disneytoon Studios as a followup to the 1942 film ''Bambi''. A ...
'' and ''
Black Widow''.
Relatives
Alongside sequels, there are also other types of continuation or inspiration of a previous work.
A
spin-off is a work that is not a sequel to any previous works, but is set in the same universe. It is a separate work-on-its-own in the same franchise as the series of other works. Spin-offs are often focused on one or more of the minor characters from the other work or new characters in the same universe as the other work. ''
The Scorpion King
''The Scorpion King'' is a 2002 American sword and sorcery action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov and Michael Clarke Duncan. It is both a prequel and spin-off of ''The ...
'', ''
Planes'', ''
Minions'', ''
Hobbs & Shaw
''Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw'' is a 2019 American buddy action comedy film directed by David Leitch and written by Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce, from a story by Morgan. It is the first spinoff of the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise ...
'' and ''
Lightyear
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...
'' are examples of spin-off movies while ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and ''
CSI: NY
''CSI: NY'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: New York'', stylized as ''CSI: NY/Crime Scene Investigation'') is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine seaso ...
'' are examples of spin-off television series.
A
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
is a work where two previous works from different franchises are meeting in the same universe. ''
Alien vs. Predator
''Alien vs. Predator'' (also known as ''Aliens versus Predator'' and ''AVP'') is a science-fiction action horror
media franchise created by comic book writers Randy Stradley and Chris Warner. The series is a crossover between, and part of, th ...
'', ''
Freddy vs. Jason
''Freddy vs. Jason'' is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Ronny Yu and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a crossover between the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' and ''Friday the 13th'' series, being the eighth installment i ...
'', ''
Boa vs. Python'' and ''
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda
''Lake Placid vs. Anaconda'' is a 2015 American comedy horror television film directed by A.B. Stone, written by Berkeley Anderson and starring Corin Nemec, Yancy Butler and Robert Englund. The film premiered on April 25, 2015, on Syfy. It is a c ...
'' are examples of a crossover film.
A
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
is a start over from a previous work. It could either be a film set in a new universe resembling the old one or it could be a regular spin-off film that starts a new film series. Reboots are usually a part of the same media franchise as the previous work(s), but not always. ''
Batman Begins
''Batman Begins'' is a 2005 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, with Michael Caine, Liam ...
'', ''
Casino Royale'', ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'', ''
Børning
''Børning'' is a 2014 Norwegian action-comedy film directed by Hallvard Bræin, produced by Filmkameratene.
Anders Baasmo Christiansen plays the main character Roy, a man who gets dragged into the biggest illegal car race in Norwegian history. ...
'', ''
Man of Steel'' and ''
Terminator: Genisys'' are examples of reboot films.
History
In ''The Afterlife of a Character'', David Brewer describes a reader's desire to "see more", or to know what happens next in the narrative after it has ended.
Sequels of the novel
![Marvelous land of oz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Marvelous_land_of_oz.jpg)
The origin of the sequel as it is conceived in the 21st century developed from the
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
and
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
traditions in a slow process that culminated towards the end of the 17th century.
The substantial shift toward a rapidly growing
print culture
Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and other printed forms of visual communication. One prominent scholar of print culture in Europe is Elizabeth Eisenstein, who contrasted the print culture of Europe in the centuries after the adv ...
and the rise of the market system by the early 18th-century meant that an author's merit and livelihood became increasingly linked to the number of copies of a work he or she could sell. This shift from a text-based to an author-centered reading culture led to the "professionalization" of the author – that is, the development of a "sense of identity based on a marketable skill and on supplying to a defined public a specialized service it was demanding."
In one sense, then, sequels became a means to profit further from previous work that had already obtained some measure of commercial success. As the establishment of a readership became increasingly important to the economic viability of authorship, sequels offered a means to establish a recurring economic outlet.
In addition to serving economic profit, the sequel was also used as a method to strengthen an author's claim to his literary property. With weak
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
laws and unscrupulous booksellers willing to sell whatever they could, in some cases the only way to prove ownership of a text was to produce another like it. Sequels in this sense are rather limited in scope, as the authors are focused on producing "more of the same" to defend their "literary paternity".
[Schellenberg, Betty A. "'To Renew Their Former Acquaintance': Print, Gender, and Some Eighteenth-Century Sequels." ''Part Two: Reflections on the Sequel (Theory / Culture)''. Ed. Paul Budra and Betty A. Schellenberg. New York: University of Toronto, 1998. Print.] As is true throughout history, sequels to novels provided an opportunity for authors to interact with a readership. This became especially important in the economy of the 18th century novel, in which authors often maintained readership by drawing readers back with the promise of more of what they liked from the original. With sequels, therefore, came the implicit division of readers by authors into the categories of "desirable" and "undesirable"—that is, those who interpret the text in a way unsanctioned by the author. Only after having achieved a significant reader base would an author feel free to alienate or ignore the "undesirable" readers.
This concept of "undesirable" readers extends to unofficial sequels with the 18th century novel. While in certain historical contexts unofficial sequels were actually the norm (for an example, see
Arthurian literature
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Western ...
), with the emphasis on the author function that arises in conjunction with the novel many authors began to see these kinds of unauthorized extensions as being in direct conflict with authorial authority. In the matter of ''
Don Quixote
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
'' (an early novel, perhaps better classified as a satirical romance), for example,
Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...
disapproved of
Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda
Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda is the pseudonym of a man who wrote a sequel to Cervantes' ''Don Quixote'', before Cervantes finished and published his own second volume. The identity of Avellaneda has been the subject of many theories, but there ...
's use of his characters in ''Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', an unauthorized sequel. In response, Cervantes very firmly kills the protagonist at the end of the Second Part to discourage any more such creative liberties. Another example is
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...
, an 18th-century author who responded particularly strongly against the appropriation of his material by unauthorized third parties. Richardson was extremely vocal in his disapproval of the way the protagonist of his novel ''
Pamela
Pamela may refer to:
*''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740
*Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname
* Pamela Spence, a Turkish pop-rock singer. Known as her stage name "Pamela"
* MSC ''Pamela'', ...
'' was repeatedly incorporated into unauthorized sequels featuring particularly lewd plots. The most famous of these is
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
's parody, entitled ''
Shamela
''An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews'', or simply ''Shamela'', as it is more commonly known, is a satirical burlesque novella by English writer Henry Fielding. It was first published in April 1741 under the name of ''Mr. Conny Key ...
''.
In ''To Renew Their Former Acquaintance: Print, Gender, and Some Eighteenth Century Sequels'', Betty Schellenberg theorizes that whereas for male writers in the 18th century sequels often served as "models of paternity and property", for women writers these models were more likely to be seen as transgressive. Instead, the recurring readership created by sequels let female writers function within the model of "familiar acquaintances reunited to enjoy the mutual pleasures of conversation", and made their writing an "activity within a private, non-economic sphere". Through this created perception women writers were able to break into the economic sphere and "enhance their professional status" through authorship.
Dissociated from the motives of profit and therefore unrestrained by the need for continuity felt by male writers, Schellenberg argues that female-authored sequel fiction tended to have a much broader scope. He says that women writers showed an "innovative freedom" that male writers rejected to "protect their patrimony". For example,
Sarah Fielding
Sarah Fielding (8 November 1710 – 9 April 1768) was an English author and sister of the novelist Henry Fielding. She wrote ''The Governess, or The Little Female Academy'' (1749), thought to be the first novel in English aimed expressly at chil ...
's ''Adventures of David Simple'' and its sequels ''Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple'' and ''David Simple, Volume the Last'' are extremely innovative and cover almost the entire range of popular narrative styles of the 18th century.
Video games
As the cost of developing a
triple-A video game has risen, sequels have become increasingly common in the
video game industry
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...
. Today, new installments of established brands make up much of the new releases from mainstream publishers and provide a reliable source of revenue, smoothing out market volatility. Sequels are often perceived to be safer than original titles because they can draw from the same customer base, and generally keep to the formula that made the previous game successful.
Media franchises
In some cases, the characters or the settings of an original film or video game become so valuable that they develop into a series, lately referred to as a
media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...
. Generally, a whole series of sequels is made, along with
merchandising
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...
. Multiple sequels are often planned well in advance, and actors and directors may sign extended contracts to ensure their participation. This can extend into a series/ franchise's initial production's plot to provide story material to develop for sequels called sequel hooks.
Box office
Movie sequels do not always do as well at the box office as the original, but they tend to do better than non-sequels, according to a study in the July 2008 issue of the ''Journal of Business Research''. The shorter the period between releases, the better the sequel does at the box office. Sequels also show a faster drop in weekly revenues relative to non-sequels.
Sequels in other media
Sequels are most often produced in the same medium as the previous work (e.g. a film sequel is usually a sequel to another film). Producing sequels to a work in another medium has recently become common, especially when the new medium is less costly or time-consuming to produce.
A sequel to a popular but discontinued television series may be produced in another medium, thereby bypassing whatever factors led to the series' cancellation.
Some highly popular movies and television series have inspired the production of multiple novel sequels, sometimes rivaling or even dwarfing the volume of works in the original medium.
For example, the 1956 novel ''
The Hundred and One Dalmatians
''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith about the kidnapping of a family of Dalmatian (dog), Dalmatian puppies. It was originally serialized in ''Woman's Day'' as ''The Great Dog Robbery'', and details the ...
'', its
1961 animated adaptation and that film's
1996 live-action remake each have a sequel unrelated to the other sequels: respectively ''
The Starlight Barking'' (1967), ''
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure'' (2003, direct to video) and ''
102 Dalmatians'' (2000).
Unofficial sequels
![New-adventures-of-alice-cover-1917](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/New-adventures-of-alice-cover-1917.png)
Sometimes sequels are produced without the consent of the creator of the original work. These may be dubbed unofficial, informal, unauthorized, or illegitimate sequels. In some cases, the work is in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
, and there is no legal obstacle to producing sequels. An example would be books and films serving as sequels to the book ''
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after s ...
,'' which is in the public domain (as opposed to
its 1939 film adaptation). In other cases, the original creator or their heirs may assert
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
s, and challenge the creators of the sequels.
Literary
*''
Old Friends and New Fancies
''Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen'' (1913) is a novel by Sybil G. Brinton that is often acknowledged to be the first sequel to the works of Jane Austen and as such is possibly the first piece of publis ...
: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen'' (1913) is a novel by Sybil G. Brinton that is generally acknowledged to be the first sequel to the works of
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
and as such the first piece of
Austen fan fiction.
*''
Porto Bello Gold
Arthur D. Howden Smith (; 1887–1945) was an American historian and novelist.Robert Sampson, ''Yesterday's Faces: Violent Lives'', Bowling Green State University, 1993, , pp. 177–78.
Life
Arthur Douglas Howden Smith was born in New York. In ...
'' (1924), a
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
by
A. D. Howden Smith
Arthur D. Howden Smith (; 1887–1945) was an American historian and novelist.Robert Sampson, ''Yesterday's Faces: Violent Lives'', Bowling Green State University, 1993, , pp. 177–78.
Life
Arthur Douglas Howden Smith was born in New York. In ...
to ''
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
'' that was written with explicit permission from Stevenson's executor, tells the origin of the buried treasure and recasts many of Stevenson's pirates in their younger years, giving the hidden treasure some
Jacobite antecedents not mentioned in the original.
*''
Back to Treasure Island
Harold Augustin Calahan (November 7, 1889 – November 25, 1965) or H. A. Calahan was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy and an author on sailing."Harold Augustin Calahan, 76, Yachtsman and Author, Dead", ''The New York Times'', Nove ...
'' (1935) is a sequel by
H. A. Calahan
Harold Augustin Calahan (November 7, 1889 – November 25, 1965) or H. A. Calahan was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy and an author on sailing."Harold Augustin Calahan, 76, Yachtsman and Author, Dead", ''The New York Times'', Nove ...
, the introduction of which argues that
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
wanted to write a continuation of the story.
*''
Heidi Grows Up'' (a.k.a. ''Heidi Grows Up: A Sequel to Heidi'') is a
1938
Events
January
* January 1
** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...
novel and sequel to
Johanna Spyri
Johanna Louise Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best known for her book ''Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Canton of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, ...
's 1881 novel ''
Heidi
''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used ...
'', written by Spyri's French and English translator, Charles Tritten, after a three-decade long period of pondering what to write, since Spyri's death gave no sequel of her own.
*
Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903 – April 5, 1986) was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as ''Astounding Stories'', ''Startling Stories'', ''Unknown'' and ''Strange Stories'', Wellman is ...
and his son Wade Wellman wrote ''
Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds
''Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds'' is a sequel to H. G. Wells's science fiction novel ''The War of the Worlds'', written by Manly Wade Wellman and his son Wade Wellman, and published in 1975. It is a pastiche crossover which combines H. G. ...
'' (1975) which describes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
's adventures during the Martian occupation of London. This version uses Wells' short story "
The Crystal Egg
"The Crystal Egg" is a science fiction short story written by H. G. Wells in 1897.
The story tells of a shop owner, named Mr. Cave, who finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into the planet Mars.
The story was written the same yea ...
" as a prequel (with Holmes being the man who bought the egg at the end) and includes a crossover with
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
's
Professor Challenger
George Edward Challenger is a fictional character in a series of fantasy and science fiction stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unlike Conan Doyle's self-controlled, analytical character, Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger is an aggressive, ...
stories. Among many changes the Martians are changed into simple vampires, who suck and ingest human blood.
* In ''
The Space Machine
''The Space Machine'', subtitled ''A Scientific Romance'', is a science fiction novel written by English writer Christopher Priest.
First published in 1976, it follows the travels of protagonists Edward Turnbull and Amelia Fitzgibbon. The pair ...
'' (1976)
Christopher Priest presents both a sequel and prequel to ''The War of the Worlds'' (due to time travel elements), which also integrates the events of ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
''.
*
György Dalos
György Dalos (born 23 September 1943) is a Hungarian Jewish writer and historian. He is best known for his novel '' 1985'', and ''The Guest from the Future: Anna Akhmatova and Isaiah Berlin''.
Life
Dalos was born in Budapest and spent his child ...
wrote the novel ''
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
'' that was intended as a direct sequel to Orwell's work.
* ''
Alice Through the Needle's Eye
''Alice Through the Needle's Eye: A Third Adventure for Lewis Carroll's Alice'' is a 1984 novel by Gilbert Adair that pays tribute to the work of Lewis Carroll through a further adventure of the eponymous fictional heroine, told in Carroll's su ...
'' (1984) by
Gilbert Adair
Gilbert Adair (29 December 19448 December 2011) was a Scottish novelist, poet, film critic, and journalist.Stuart Jeffries and Ronald BerganObituary: Gilbert Adair ''The Guardian'', 9 December 2011. He was critically most famous for the "fiend ...
, a sequel to
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
's
Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...
books.
* The novelist
Angela Carter
Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...
was working on a sequel to ''
Jane Eyre
''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...
'' at the time of her death in 1992. This was to have been the story of Jane's stepdaughter Adèle Varens and her mother Céline. Only a synopsis survives.
* ''Mrs. Rochester: A Sequel to Jane Eyre'' (1997) by
Hilary Bailey
Hilary Bailey (19 September 1936 – 19 January 2017) was a British writer, critic and editor.
Life
Bailey attended Newnham College, Cambridge, where she was a founder-member of the Cambridge University Women's Union. She was born in Brom ...
.
*''
The Last Ringbearer
''The Last Ringbearer'' (russian: Последний кольценосец, italic=yes, ''Posledniy kol'tsenosets'') is a 1999 fantasy fan-fiction book by Russian author Kirill Eskov. It is an alternative account of, and an informal sequel to ...
'' (russian: Последний кольценосец, italic=yes, ''Posledniy kol'tsenosets'') (1999) is a fantasy book by Russian author
Kirill Eskov
Kirill Yuryevich Eskov (russian: Кири́лл Ю́рьевич Есько́в; born 16 September 1956) is a Russian writer, biologist and paleontologist.
As an author he is known for '' The Gospel of Afranius'' in which he presents an atheistic ...
. It is an
alternative account of, and an informal sequel to, the events of
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''.
See also
*
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
*
Crossover (fiction)
A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, unofficial efforts by ...
*
Film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series.
This article explains what film series are ...
* ''
Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd.''
*
List of video game franchises
This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases.
0–9
*''1080° Snowboarding''
*''1942''
*''3D Ultra Minigolf''
*'' 3-D Ultra Pinball''
*''7 ...
*
List of film sequels by box-office performance
This is a list of film sequels and their performance at the box office. All grosses are given in unadjusted US dollars.
For the tables presented below, determining what constitutes a film series and where a film fits in with the series is subje ...
*
Prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
*
List of prequels
This is a list of prequels.
Works with darker gray background shading have been primarily described as a sequel, remake, or reboot, but have also been regarded as prequels in a broad sense of the word.
Literature
Plays
Films
Channel and t ...
*
Reboot (fiction)
In serial fiction, the term "reboot" signifies a new start to an established fictional universe, work, or series. A reboot discards continuity to re-create its characters, plotlines and backstory from the beginning. It has been described as a ...
*
Remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
*
Shared universe
A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...
*
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off (or spinoff) is a radio program, television program, film, video game or any narrative work, derived from already existing works that focus on more details and different aspects from the original work (e.g. particular topics, ...
*
Spiritual successor
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...
*
Standalone film
A standalone film is a film that does not have any relation with other films. In the late 1990s, it was typical to create standalone films with no plans for sequels. The term "standalone film" appeared when sequels, spin-offs, and franchises bec ...
*
Tetralogy
A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- ''tetra-'', "four" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedies ...
*
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
''Slate'': "The Midas Formula (How to create a billion-dollar movie franchise)"''Box Office Mojo'': Film franchise earning comparison
{{Authority control
Narrative forms
Film and video terminology
*
Continuity (fiction)
Television terminology