It’s almost like every successful franchise has a sequel. In fact, as of writing this, the popular Crime Psychological Thriller, Dexter, is getting another season, succeeding Dexter: Resurrections, which is already a sequel of the original Dexter series. In recent times, this, Sequel-ception, has begun to feel forced. Franchises like the aforementioned Dexter and Alice in Borderland have series that seem to end in perfection, with the protagonist escaping the adversary they were placed in, only to be thrown back into chaos that should never have happened. Thus, unless done correctly, sequels usually pose more harm than good for a standalone franchise. 

Sequels usually fail because of their inherent pursuit of economic profit rather than actual expansion of storytelling, and their inability to find a good way to connect the sequel back to its main source. Take, for example, the movie Inside Out. According to Gabbi Shaw from Business Insider, “‘ Inside Out 2’ made an estimated $295 million worldwide. Its predecessor debuted to $90 million.” However, compare that to its Rotten Tomatoes rating, a popular system of movie reviews, which features a whole 10% decrease in Tomato Rating from its sample of critics. This drastic, basically whole letter grade, drop in reviews demonstrates that despite gaining plenty of revenue from the movie, the exhaustion of cinematic material available caused a decline in movie quality.

However, there are some sequels that outperform their predecessor. An example is the aforementioned Alice in Borderland. According to IMDb, Season 2 is considered the strongest, outranking seasons 1 and 3. This proves that when planned properly, a sequel can actually perform a lot better than its predecessor. However, many critics on IMDb consider season 3 the weakest of the three due to the conclusion of season two. Creating a good sequel is possible, but it must be planned from the beginning, not a product of revenue and box-office success. 

In the end, sequels are something we cannot avoid. Every fiscal year, there are dozens of new spinoffs, remakes, and other continuations of popular media we’ve all heard of. So, despite their potential lack in quality, on release day, we all will still be grabbing our popcorn, renewing our subscriptions, and watching whatever new sequel is to be released, or a standalone film, if you believe the same way I do.