Sequels, Prequels and Spin-offs

Sequel, prequel, spin-off: the definitions

These terms overlap, and studios often mix them, but the basic meanings are clear.

Sequel vs. spin-off

Plenty of follow-ups are both. The Legend of Korra continues the Avatar timeline (a sequel) but swaps in a new lead and mostly new cast (spin-off territory). Better Call Saul is a spin-off that's mostly a prequel, with a few scenes set after Breaking Bad ends.

Prequel vs. reboot vs. remake

Anime has a special category here: the re-adaptation. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009) re-adapted the manga after the 2003 anime had diverged from it. Hunter x Hunter (2011) retold the manga from the start after the 1999 series. Sailor Moon Crystal (2014) re-adapted Naoko Takeuchi's manga more faithfully than the 1990s anime. See our watch order guide for which version to start with.

Notable sequels and spin-offs by franchise

Anime

• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations — A next-generation sequel following Naruto's son, Boruto, with Naruto as Hokage. It began after the original manga ended and tests whether a new lead can carry a world built around his father.
• Dragon Ball Super and GT — Two different sequels to Dragon Ball Z. GT came first; Super later became the main continuity.
• Jujutsu Kaisen 0 — A prequel that first ran as a short manga before the main series, then became a film after the anime's first season.
• Blue Lock: Episode Nagi — A spin-off that retells early Blue Lock events from Seishiro Nagi's point of view.
• My Hero Academia: Vigilantes — A spin-off about unlicensed heroes in the same world, set before the main story.
• Comedy spin-offs — Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals and Attack on Titan: Junior High turn serious series into parodies of themselves.

Western animation and film

• The Simpsons — Itself a spin-off: the family started as short sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show before getting their own series in 1989. See The Simpsons characters.
• The Cleveland Show — A Family Guy spin-off built around Peter's neighbour Cleveland Brown.
• Steven Universe Future — An epilogue series that deals with what happens to Steven after the war is over, which turns out to be the hard part.
• Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake — A spin-off that grew out of the original show's gender-swapped fan-fiction episodes.
• Minions — A prequel spin-off of Despicable Me that became a franchise of its own. See our Minions characters page.
• Puss in Boots — A Shrek spin-off; Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) is often named among DreamWorks' best films. More on our DreamWorks characters page.
• Lightyear — Presented as the film that inspired Andy's Buzz Lightyear toy in Toy Story, an unusual spin-off concept.

Live action

• Better Call Saul and El Camino — The two Breaking Bad follow-ups: a prequel spin-off about Saul and a sequel film about Jesse. See our Breaking Bad guide.
• House of the Dragon — A Game of Thrones prequel set nearly two centuries earlier, about the Targaryen civil war. See Game of Thrones characters.
• Gen V — A spin-off of The Boys set at a university for young superheroes.
• Rogue One and Andor — Star Wars side stories leading up to A New Hope, often praised for doing something the main saga doesn't.
• Fantastic Beasts — A Harry Potter prequel series set in the 1920s and 1930s.

Why sequels so often disappoint

The most common reason is simple: the original resolved its conflict. A good ending closes the questions the story asked, so the sequel has to invent new ones, and they rarely feel as important. Three failure modes recur.

• Stakes inflation. The first villain threatened a city; the sequel's threatens the world; the third threatens the universe. The audience already knows the hero wins, so bigger threats can feel smaller.
• The reverted protagonist. The hero who grew up by the end of the first story slides back to an earlier version so they can grow up again. It undoes the original's best work.
• The cast that won't leave. Original characters hang around because the audience expects them, even when the new story has nothing for them to do.

What good sequels do differently

1. Ask a new question — Not a bigger version of the old one. Toy Story 3 isn't about whether the toys can get home; it's about what happens when their kid grows up.
2. Let time pass and show it — Characters should have changed in ways you can see. Inside Out 2 moves Riley from 11 to 13 and adds new emotions like Anxiety, so the sequel is about a genuinely different stage of life. See our Inside Out 2 characters guide.
3. Change the tone with the characters — Older characters dealing with older problems feel like continuation. The same plot with older faces feels like franchise inertia.
4. Move the old lead into a supporting role — Many next-generation sequels turn the previous hero into a mentor. It works only if the new lead is strong enough to carry the story.
5. Build on the ending instead of undoing it — Steven Universe Future works because it takes the happy ending seriously and asks what it cost.

Why spin-offs sometimes work better

Spin-offs avoid the original-protagonist problem. A new lead in a familiar world doesn't have to compete with anyone's finished arc. The audience already knows the rules, so the writers can spend less time on setup and more on character. Better Call Saul is the standard example: many viewers rank it alongside, or above, Breaking Bad.

The risks are different, though:

• The new lead has to earn the spotlight. Cameos from the original cast can't replace an interesting protagonist.
• The world's rules shouldn't bend. If the spin-off needs new rules, they should be additions, not quiet rewrites of what fans already know.
• Nostalgia is a seasoning, not a meal. A spin-off that runs on callbacks is a sequel pretending to be something else.

The prequel problem

Prequels start with a handicap: the audience knows how things end. The best ones turn that into dramatic irony. Watching Jimmy McGill try to be a decent lawyer is painful precisely because you know who he becomes. The weaker ones spend their time explaining things nobody needed explained, like where a character's name or catchphrase came from.

Prequels are also usually written for people who've seen the original. That's why, in most cases, it's best to watch them afterwards, in release order.

The diminishing-returns problem

Some franchises produce instalment after instalment. By the fourth or fifth, the heroes have retired and returned several times, the world has nearly ended repeatedly, and new stakes are hard to take seriously. Long-running game and film series are especially vulnerable.

A practical rule: a franchise's third or fourth instalment is rarely the best place to start. Begin with the original if you can; if it hasn't aged well for you, the second instalment is often a better entry point than a later one.

Should you watch the sequel or spin-off?

1. Did the original need one? — If the ending was clean and loved, the follow-up is fighting uphill. If it left obvious questions, there's room.
2. Has the team changed? — A new writer, studio or director often means a different show wearing the same costume. That can be good or bad, but it's worth knowing.
3. How long was the gap? — A long gap often means the follow-up spends time re-selling the original. A short one means the cast is fresh, but fatigue may show.
4. What does the trailer sell? — A trailer built on callbacks suggests the new story leans on the old one. A trailer that confidently introduces new characters suggests it has its own story to tell.
5. Who is it for? — Some spin-offs, like comedy parodies, are made purely for existing fans. That's fine, as long as you know it going in.