Sequel Series - TV Tropes
- ️Fri Sep 19 2008
An entire series that follows on chronologically from the predecessor. Usually marked by a change in cast within the universe, while maintaining the same general rules.
Like anything having to do with TV production, this trope has a dark side. Under U.S law, and possibly a few other countries, if a television series runs over a certain number of episodes then the cast are entitled to a percentage of the show's take, in addition to their normal salaries. However, it doesn't take more than some minor rebranding to have a show's new season be legally considered a completely different property. Conversely, any Anime series that continues after concluding its initial premise usually changes its name in this manner when it gets Un-Cancelled.
Officially distinct fromnote Spin-Off in that a Sequel Series occurs (somewhat) immediately after the prior series and in the same general area. When a show continues as normal but renames itself for the new season, it's New Season, New Name, though oftentimes the two overlap. After Show is a subtrope where at least one vital member of the cast is absent. When a series continuesnote but several elements/rules are updated for modern tastes, you have a Revival. See also: Series Franchise, where the follow-up has the same series name but only a few of the same elements. Sequel Series could be taken as an converse of Canon Welding in that the Sequel Series is pre-welded to its predecessor yet is legally distinct. If a series cannot follow its inspiration legally yet does so in spirit, you have a Spiritual Successor.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Aquarion: Genesis of Aquarion is followed by Aquarion Evol. Aquarion Logos, however, averts it, as it's not in continuity with Evol.
- Eureka Seven is followed by Eureka Seven AO.
- Similar to the Star Trek franchise, the Gundam franchise is made of this trope. Just looking at the Universal Century and excluding movies/OVAs, you can come up with four different ~50 episode series: Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, and Victory Gundam. When one adds in the OVAs and movies, the UC era alone has well over a dozen entries in it.
- Digimon:
- Digimon Adventure is directly followed by Digimon Adventure 02.
- Digimon Fusion got The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time.
- Naruto:
- Naruto Shippuden takes place 2-3 years after the original Naruto anime. This is strictly anime business, however; both are adaptations of a single manga series, and Masashi Kishimoto considers both as part of one series with no break in-between. Instead, they are separated by six prequel chapters unofficially called Kakashi Gaiden (the anime infamously inserted loads upon loads of filler episodes in their place to give time for the manga to catch up. Kakashi Gaiden was adapted to animation much later).
- Naruto later gets a full sequel of its own in Boruto, which focuses on Naruto's son. Boruto is not illustrated by Kishimoto, so it is considered a different creature from the original.
- Umineko: When They Cry to Higurashi: When They Cry
- Dragon Ball is a strange example. When the anime got to the start of the Saiyan Arc, Toei changed the name to Dragon Ball Z. For decades fans assumed this made Z a Sequel Series to the original manga; after all this is where the action ramps up higher than ever before, the characters go to space, and Goku reckons with his Saiyan heritage. But as revealed in a 2016 interview
, it was actually to get more promotion money by changing the title of the existing show, making it a case of New Season, New Name. Case in point? Dragon Ball Z aired in Dragon Ball's timeslot without skipping a beat, and makes no effort to introduce new viewers to the Dragon World.
- The above also applies to the English translation of the manga: the volumes that were adapted into Dragon Ball Z had their names changed to it to appeal to fans of the anime.
- Dragon Ball GT however is a proper example of this trope, as it was an original creation of Toei that continued the story after the end of the manga's storyline.
- Dragon Ball Super is also a Sequel Series, albiet technically a Revival as it takes place during the 10-year timeskip before the epilogue chapters.
- Dragon Ball DAIMA is another sequel series made to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the franchise, being another Interquel that takes place after the Buu Saga, but before the 10-year time skip from the end of Z, and also before both Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Super.
- Leo the Lion covers the last third of the original manga of Kimba the White Lion after the 60s anime ended.
- Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin was succeeded by Ginga Densetsu Weed.
- Great Teacher Onizuka is a sequel series to GTO: The Early Years, and has its own sequel series GTO: Paradise Lost (plus the interquel GTO: 14 Days in Shonan).
- MÄR Omega continues on after MÄR.
- Shaman King was succeeded by Shaman King: Flowers, and this series in turn was followed by Shaman King: The Super Star.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi is followed by UQ Holder!, though this wasn't immediately obvious.
- Ojamajo Doremi has Ojamajo Doremi #(Sharp), Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi, and Ojamajo Doremi Dokka~n!.
- Pretty Cure:
- Futari wa Pretty Cure has Futari wa Pretty Cure MaX Heart, in which Cure Black and Cure White are reunited with Mepple and Mipple and gain a third teammate, Shiny Luminous.
- Yes! Pretty Cure 5 has Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!. Like Max Heart above, this series also introduces The Sixth Ranger, Milky Rose.
- Stitch! is an anime sequel series to the Lilo & Stitch franchise, though it initially appears to be an Alternate Continuity.
- Free! serves as one to Kouji Oji's High☆Speed! novels.
- Osomatsu-kun recieved a sequel series in Osomatsu-san, taking place ten or so years after the original manga with the sextuplets as young adult NEETs.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is the first sequel series to Yu-Gi-Oh!, starting a chain that continues with Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, and Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS.
- Cardcaptor Sakura's manga and anime got a sequel with Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card.
- QQ Sweeper got a sequel in Queen's Quality, featuring the same cast with new and old dangers.
- Maple Town was followed by a sequel called Palm Town. Only Patty Rabbit from the previous series was featured though some of the Maple Town cast made occasional appearances.
- Yo-kai Watch:
- The show has a darker sequel series titled Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside, which also serves as a sequel to the movie Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside - The Return of the Oni King. The series features Nate's Children and their friends as protagonists and less-stylized Yo-kai (with two forms, the harmless Lightside and the scarier Shadowside) and more recurring antagonists.
- Similarly, the spinoff AU Yo-kai Watch Jam - Yo-kai Academy Y: Close Encounters of the N Kind series is a sequel to the sixth movie, Yo-kai Watch Jam The Movie: Yo-kai Academy Y - Can a Cat be a Hero?. It's eventually revealed to be a Stealth Sequel to the overall series, taking place roughly after Shadowside and the show isn't really an AU after all.
- Macross II takes place in an alternate universe where the events of Macross: Do You Remember Love? happened and were not a Show Within a Show. It expands upon the music Genetic Memory of the Meltran and Zentran being placed within them by a Master Race known as the Mardook for Mind Manipulation.
- Voltron Force picks up seven years after the final of the original Voltron.
- Kamisama Minarai: Himitsu no Cocotama, based on Bandai's Cocotama toyline, was given a sequel (or spin-off depending on whom you asked) series in Kira Kira Happy Hirake Cocotama.
- Angel Heart was originally a sequel series to City Hunter before fan backlash for killing off Kaoru led to it being declared an Alternate Continuity.
- Battle B-Daman, an anime about a boy named Yamato Delgado who wants to become the best at the eponymous game, was followed by Crash B-Daman.
- Kilala Princess, a Disney-licensed 2005 shojo manga, was followed by a sequel in 2020.
- K-On! had two separate manga continuations two years after the original series's ending: K-On College which follows Hokago Tea Time's college adventures, and K-On High School following Azusa's senior year.
- Fairy Tail is followed up by Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, which chronicles the Strongest Team's intention to complete the titular quest teased at the very end of the original series and getting pulled into a whole new adventure that threatens the world.
Audio Plays
- Big Finish Doctor Who:
- The War Doctor Begins, as well as being a prequel to The War Doctor, follows The Eighth Doctor: Time War, which precedes "The Night of the Doctor".
Comic Books
- In an interesting and bizarre variation of the trope, My Chemical Romance's album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, has a sequel in the form of a comic book mini series, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, written by MCR's lead singer and noted comic book writer, Gerard Way (who also wrote The Umbrella Academy).
- In the wake of Batman RIP, Tim Drake's ongoing Robin (1993) was cancelled to be followed after a brief hiatus by Red Robin.
- Following the Fully Absorbed Finale of Young Justice and Titans (1999) in Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, the main cast of Young Justice (Tim, Kon, Cassie and Bart) continued the story of their superhero journey in Teen Titans (2003) whilst Roy and Dick formed a brand new superhero team with Outsiders (2003).
- Teen Titans Academy acts as a Sequel Series for both Titans (2016) (Dick, Donna, Raven, Gar, Victor and Kori) and Teen Titans (2016) (Emiko, Wallace, William, Summer), bringing in the casts of both series.
- Marvel Universe:
- The Avengers (Mark Waid) picks up where All-New, All-Different Avengers left off and continues the plot threads from there that are left out of Champions. Also counts as a slight example to Hercules (2015) due to including Hercules and continuing his quest to redeem himself.
- Ghost-Spider (2019) is a direct continuation of Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider, taking place immediately after that comic's last issue and sharing the same creative team of writer Seanan McGuire and artist Miyazawa. McGuire even recommends that you read that before beginning this series.
- Sabretooth & the Exiles is a direct sequel to the Sabretooth (2022) series, with the same creative team. The titular 'Exiles' are Sabretooth's fellow prisoners in the Pit, now promoted to core cast. It's also an Immediate Sequel - the previous series ended up with Sabretooth's escape from the Pit leaving him in the clutches of Orchis. The new series starts with the head of the Orchis base being notified of a new prisoner, probably only hours later (at most).
- Shazam!:
- Shazam! (1973) is the sequel to Captain Marvel Adventures, set after the end of the original series.
- Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam is a loose sequel to Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil.
- Superman:
- Eight years after its cancellation Superboy (1994) got a sequel series in Superboy (2010), which was then canceled itself before the year was out due to Flashpoint rebooting continuity.
- The original Superboy title Superboy (1949) was renamed Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in 1973, and three years later it was spun into two different titles: Superboy (1980) -or Volume 2- and Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) -or Volume 2-, the latter being followed by Legion of Super-Heroes (1984) -or Volume 3-.
- Supergirl (1972) was followed by Supergirl (1982) ten years after the former's cancellation. The adventures of Supergirl were folded into the Superman Family magazine in the interim between both series.
- Supergirl (2016) is a direct continuation of Supergirl (2011), continuing the story six months after the end of the 2011 series, and Supergirl 2025 continues the 2016 series story.
- As part of DC's new editorial direction on June 2015 Red Hood and the Outlaws was spun into two different titles: Starfire (2015) and Red Hood/Arsenal. Only the latter is a direct continuation, Starfire's book has a little to do with Red Hood and the Outlaws
- The Transformers comic books by Marvel Comics had three continuations. The first one is set in the same continuity, while the others are considered alternate universes.
- Transformers: Generation 2, a direct continuation of the original comic that was also published by Marvel and lasted 13 issues (counting a zero-numbered issue) after starting off with a five-part arc in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel).
- Transformers Classics, a follow-up by Fun Publications that ignored the Generation 2 comic and notably crossed over with Transformers: Shattered Glass in an arc that ended with that reality being destroyed (most of the Cybertronians and humans ended up migrating to the Shattered Glass universe, with the Of Masters and Mayhem arc providing closure for the fates of the Autobots' human allies and the final Transformers: TransTech story, itself an epilogue to the aforementioned Of Masters and Mayhem, revealing that several until then unnaccounted for Autobots had also survived their universe's destruction).
- The Transformers: Regeneration One, a maxiseries by IDW Publishing that disregards the stories exclusive to the UK version of the comic as well as Generation 2 and Transformers Classics, taking place 21 years after the conclusion of the original series.
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel) had two different comic continuations, both handled by different publishing companies.
- When Devil's Due Publishing obtained the comic book license to G.I. Joe, they published G.I. Joe (Devil's Due), which was marketed as an official continuation of the Marvel Comics continuity.
- After IDW Publishing acquired the comic book license following the end of Devil's Due Publishing's tenure, they published their own continuation of the Marvel Comics continuity, which continued the issue numbering of the original Marvel Comics run and rendered the Devil's Due continuation non-canon.
- The Rocketeer got a lighter and softer animated sequel.
- Even though it was a part of the New 52 continuity reboot, All-Star Western featuring Jonah Hex was for all intents and purposes a continuation of the previous Jonah Hex (2005). Helped that it maintained the same creative team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and Hex's adventures being set in the 19th Century American West meant stories there would have little bearing on the present-day DC Universe.
- Les Légendaires Résistance is a continuation of the original series that occurs 20 years later, even though it's officially called a spin-off.
Fan Works
- The Pony POV Series started off as just the Discorded Ponies series, which was the point of views of characters as they're Discorded in canon (plus the alternate ending "Epilogue"). Then came the Reharmonized Ponies series, which is the bulk of the series, dealing with the fallout from Discorded Ponies and soon developing its own, very extensive, world, mythology, and timeline. "Epilogue" was eventually followed up on by the "Dark World Arc", which expanded until Word of God declared it it's own series running side-by-side with the "Reharmonized" timeline.
- Calvin & Hobbes: The Series is a Sequel Series to both the original strip and Swing123 and garfieldodie's respective Calvin and Hobbes fanfic series.
- Lost Relics
is this to Riding the Waves.
- Songs of Lost Children is one for the Blooming Moon Chronicles.
- A sequel to School Idol Days titled School Idol Days S, based on Love Live!'s own Sequel Series Love Live! Sunshine!!, was released upon completion of the first story.
- Shining and Sweet is the sequel to Ma Fille. It focuses on Katrina's high school years and Joe's last few years in the WVBA.
Films — Live-Action
- Creed, Creed II and Creed III are this to the six Rocky movies that precede it.
- Harry Potter got a prequel series in the form of Fantastic Beasts, a trilogy followup that takes place decades prior to the events of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The series contains wholly new material lifted from no book in particular (unless you count its namesake, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Defictionalization of the universe' bestiary regarding, well, fantastic beasts), but since J. K. Rowling is the screenwriter, it is considered a canonical entry to the franchise.
- Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Jurassic World Dominion are this to the Jurassic Park films.
Literature
- Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. Set in modern New Orleans and follows the monster and Victor Frankenstein after a 170-year Time Skip.
- Leigh Bardugo's The Grisha Trilogy was followed by Six of Crows and The Nikolai Duology.
- Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians is being followed up by The Heroes of Olympus. And The Heroes of Olympus is in turn being followed up by The Trials of Apollo.
- Warrior Cats spawned multiple six-book series after the original six books, not to mention the graphic novels, Special Editions, and other "extras".
- Leven Thumps is followed by a trilogy called Beyond Foo.
- Terry Goodkind's Children of D'Hara and The Nicci Chronicles are this to The Sword of Truth.
- Tugdual is the sequel of Oksa Pollock which focuses on the characters Tugdual and Zoé.
- Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby series is set a few years after the Henry Huggins series, written when Ramona and Beezus proved to be Breakout Characters, and would overshadow its predecessor.
- On top of six main novels, The Mortal Instruments series has received a sequel, an interquel, and two prequel trilogies, and is set to receive one more sequel trilogy (fun fact: Cassandra Clare originally planned to write three books. Now there are eighteen, not counting supplementary materials.)
- The Infernal Devices is set 129 years before the original series in Victorian-era Britain.
- The Dark Artifices is set five years after the epilogue of the original series.
- The Eldest Curses is an interquel series that takes place between installments of The Mortal Instruments and The Dark Artifices.
- The Last Hours is set 25 years after The Infernal Devices.
- The Hand of Thrawn duology is this to The Thrawn Trilogy, which was in its day considered to be the proper sequel series to the Star Wars original trilogy. Hand of Thrawn takes place ten years after the Thrawn Trilogy and fifteen years after the films.
- The Mouse Watch is one to Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Gadget is the Big Good who created the titular Heroes "R" Us organization, while Chip and Dale make a cameo. (Word of God is that Monterey Jack and Zipper aren't in the first three books, but will probably appear if the series continues.)
- The Raven Cycle, a fantasy coming-of-age story with an ensemble cast, is followed by the Dreamer Trilogy, set the following fall, which shifts into supernatural heist/thriller territory and focuses on Ronan Lynch and his family, plus new characters initially not connected to the rest. There's an epilogue which tells you what some of the original cast did in the meantime.
- Septimus Heap is followed by the sequel series TodHunter Moon, focusing on Septimus's own apprentice.
Live-Action TV
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation is a setting and thematic follow-up to Star Trek: The Original Series set about 100 years after the series and about 80 years after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the immediately preceding film (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were released during the series run). The initial intention was to stand alone as its' own thing barring rare uses of The Cameo or Continuity Nod, but became more confident later in the run and would have episodes surrounding Scotty and Spock.
- Star Trek: Picard is a direct sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation, starring the eponymous starship captain nearly thirty years later. Its final season brought back all the main characters of TNG.
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a Prequel Series to Star Trek: The Original Series, taking place on the starship Enterprise during the five years before TOS is set, featuring many of the same main characters.
- Stargate SG-1 is a TV adaptation that acts as a direct sequel to the original Stargate movie.
- 90210, the sequel to Beverly Hills, 90210.
- Melrose Place had a new incarnation.
- Power Rangers moved from Oddly Named Sequels to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, Turbo and In Space) to this in its seventh season, Lost Galaxy.
- Rick Steves' Europe, to Travels in Europe.
- Degrassi Junior High was immediately followed by Degrassi High, and then, ten years later, by Degrassi: The Next Generation.
- In 1988, the original Mission: Impossible was revived with Jim Phelps leading a team of new agents—including the son of one of the original team members.
- Technically speaking, all four series of Blackadder were separate shows. The 1983 original The Black Adder was followed by Blackadder II in 1986, then Blackadder the Third in 1987, then Blackadder Goes Forth in 1989.
- GARO is followed by Garo: Makai Senki, which was later followed up by Garo: Makai no Hana. An alternate universe series, GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness, got its own sequels, with GARO: Gold Storm Sho and the movie GARO: Kami no Kiba, which was followed up by GARO: Kami no Kiba ~Jinga~.
- AfterMASH shows the lives of the characters from M*A*S*H after they left Korea.
- Girl Meets World takes place roughly 14-15 years after Boy Meets World and follows the adventures of Cory and Topanga's teen note daughter Riley. The show also features several BMW characters return and how they turned out.
- Fuller House takes place 20 years after the end of the original Full House, with DJ raising three boys with the help of her sister Stephanie and best friend Kimmy.
- Raven's Home, likewise, starts about 15 years after That's So Raven, with Raven raising boy-and-girl twins and Chelsea raising a son.
- Escape of the Artful Dodger follows on from Oliver Twist.
- Ashes to Ashes is the sequel to Life on Mars (2006), keeping the same main cast but replacing Sam Tyler with Alex Drake, and moving from The '70s to The '80s.
- Heroes was followed by a 13-episode miniseries titled Heroes Reborn.
- The Munsters Today was originally this to The Munsters with the premise that the monster family from the original 1960s show had been in suspended animation for over 20 years and woke up in the late 80s, but started to become an Alternate Continuity by the time the second season began airing.
- Archie Bunker's Place is this to All in the Family, with Archie now the owner of a bar and protector of Edith's niece Stephanie (introduced in the original show's final season).
- Minority Report takes place eleven years after the film, and follows one of the Precogs (Dash) trying to help people after Pre-Crime's shutdown.
- Toei Tokusatsu:
- Although all Kamen Rider series from the Showa Era already shared the same continuity, only two are to be a direct sequels to their predecessor. The original series was followed by Kamen Rider V3, which had the eponymous hero being created by his predecessors to fight a new organization led by the old Big Bad, also retaining The Mentor. Uniquely, Kamen Rider BLACK RX stars the same protagonist taking on a new evil.
- Similarly, Super Sentai also has only one direct sequel: Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, a sequel to Denshi Sentai Denziman. Unlike Black RX, it's the lead villain of Denziman who returns, though now demoted to a lower, yet still very high position in a different organization fighting different heroes.
- Metal Heroes: Space Sheriff Gavan was followed by Space Sheriff Sharivan, whose eponymous hero was introduced in the last episodes of Gavan. Sharivan, which retained characters from Gavan, was itself followed by Space Sheriff Shaider, the last of the Space Sheriff trilogy which saw the three Space Sheriffs unite in the finale. Similarly, Tokkei Winspector is followed by Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain, the foundation of the eponymous team being set up in the final episodes of Winspector. Solbrain, which inherited characters from Winspector, was itself followed by the more standalone Tokusou Exceedraft, the last of the Rescue Police trilogy which saw The Mentor for Winspector and Solbrain come Back for the Finale. Juukou B-Fighter is followed by B-Fighter Kabuto, which takes place five years later.
- Kikaider would receive a sequel series that began airing right after it ended, focusing on Kikaider's "older brother" / prototype 01.
- Inazuman would receive a sequel series in the form of Inazuman Flash. It was originally going to just be Inazuman's third quarter, but the production team decided to retool it into a new show in an effort to boost ratings. This also led to a two-part finale for Inazuman that ended on a cliffhanger setting up the plot of Flash.
- Akumaizer 3 would receive a sequel in the form of Choujin Bibyun. It was more a sequel In Name Only though, as it focused on a new set of heroes inheriting the Akumaizer 3's power and had a new supporting cast as well, with the Akumaizer 3 only appearing in the first episode to tip their hats off to their successors.
- Ultra Series:
- All Ultra series from the Showa era (Ultra Q, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Leo, Ultraman 80) share the same continuity, although the idea was not established until Return of Ultraman. Heisei entries Ultraman Mebius, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, and the Ultraman Zero movies also share the same universe, but also feature monsters from other series. To make it more confusing, Ultraman Max and the Heisei Ultraseven series are set in alternate continuations of the universe where their respective Ultras are the only ones to visit Earth, while Word of God claims Ultraman Geed is also part of the same continuity.
- Ultraman Dyna is set several years after Ultraman Tiga with the same attack team, but a totally new cast of characters.
- Ultraman Ginga has its very simply titled followup Ultraman Ginga S, which switches from the former's story of childhood friends reencountering each other at their abandoned elementary school to the standard paramilitary formula, along with introducing a new Ultra called Ultraman Victory.
- While already mentioned above, the Ultraman Zero movies are directly followed up by Ultraman Geed, which brings back Zero and his enemy Ultraman Belial, only now Zero is The Lancer supporting a new hero who is also opposing Belial. Ultraman Z also includes these elements, with Zero and Geed making a few guest appearances and Belial being an absent-yet-influential Greater-Scope Villain, but the connections are much smaller than they were in Geed.
- Saved by the Bell had two concurrent sequel series. While most of the main cast went on to college (and met other new main characters) in Saved By The Bell: The College Years, Bayside High, Mr. Belding, and a new cast of students remained the focus of Saved By The Bell: The New Class. The identically-named series Saved by the Bell premiered in 2020 and follows several students at Bayside High, including Zack and Kelly's and Jessie's sons.
- Legends of Tomorrow has effectively become this to the cancelled Constantine after John joins the team in Season 4, with his own previously incomplete storyline becoming the main season-long arc. Even before that, many elements and call backs from Constantine's own show were present in the third season.
- The Vampire Diaries spawned The Originals which spawned Legacies.
- The White Queen, focused on Elizabeth Woodville, is followed by The White Princess, focused on her daughter Elizabeth of York, in turn followed by The Spanish Princess, focused on her daughter-in-law Catherine of Aragon.
- The Brady Bunch had two short-lived attempts to follow the bunch's further misadventures, the 1981 sitcom The Brady Brides and the 1990 drama The Bradys.
- Cobra Kai follows Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso of the original The Karate Kid film 30 years after the original film and focuses on Johnny restarting the Cobra Kai dojo.
- Watchmen is a live-action sequel to the comic book.
- The New Pope is the sequel to The Young Pope.
- The Jim Davidson sitcom Up the Elephant and Round the Castle was followed by a series called Home James, which saw the protagonist Jim London lose the house he inherited and start a new job as a chauffeur for an aristocrat. Other than the character name, the two series are loosely connected.
- The 2021 Punky Brewster series is a sequel to Punky Brewster, following the titular character as an adult, who is recently divorced and a mother of three. She fosters a girl who reminds her of herself.
- Porridge was followed by the series Going Straight, which followed Fletcher's life after prison and his attempts to go straight. It lasted just one season due to the untimely death of Richard Beckinsale, who played Godber.
- The L Word: Generation Q began in 2019, ten years after The L Word ended, picking up with Bette, Alice, Shane and Angelica, Bette's daughter (Tina is not seen at first, but later appears). Four new main characters were also introduced, along with several supporting.
- The Fairly OddParents!: Fairly Odder takes place several years after The Fairly OddParents!. The trailer shows Timmy (now a grown man) passing on his fairy godparents to his younger cousin Viv, who succeeds him as the show's main character.
- Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is set years after Pretty Little Liars in a shared continuity but now following a new generation of Liars and A in a different town.
- The 2022 Quantum Leap series is a continuation of the original Quantum Leap, focusing on a new incarnation of Project Quantum Leap and a new lead character, Ben Song, who enters the Quantum Accelerator decades after Sam Beckett did and ends up in the same situation.
- The Santa Clauses is a sequel series to the Santa Clause films set near the end of Scott Calvin's career as Santa Claus.
- That '90s Show moves forward two decades after That '70s Show to tell the story of Eric Forman and Donna Pinciotti's daughter Leia and a new gang of teens from Point Place.
- CSI: Vegas is set 6 years after CSI and picks up after Captain Brass has retired and all the other original characters have moved on from the Vegas Crime Lab. During at least the first two seasons, various ones of them return to help out with current cases and/or get help with situations of their own.
- Willow: It's the sequel to the film, picking up some 20-30 years on with several of the film's characters returning plus new ones being introduced on another adventure. Willow himself is naturally one of them.
- History of the World Part II is a sketch comedy follow up to Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part I.
Video Games
- The Mega Man (Classic) series has 4 sequel series, including Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero and their Alternate Continuity Mega Man Battle Network has Mega Man Star Force. See Video Game Long-Runners.
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, the sequel of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy. Meanwhile, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a midquel series, being set between Phoenix and Apollo's sagas.
- Ace Combat is a prequel series. The first two games didn't have much to do with each other or the following games, so it was Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere that laid the foundations of Strangereal. The problem was that it was set in 2040 and the developers wanted to return to the Present Day setting of the first games. So, every game since then has been a build-up to Electrosphere, at least until the Continuity Reboot with Ace Combat: Joint Assault and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (particularly vitriolic fandom voices claim this happened because the timeline was getting dangerously close to Electrosphere and the developers have no idea where to go from there). They even managed to make a prequel to the prequel series with Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, set in 1995.
- The Metroid Prime Trilogy is an interquel series, taking place between Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus.
- Call of Duty:
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was followed by two direct sequels.
- The Call of Duty: Black Ops sub-series is this to the original Call of Duty (Or to be more exact World At War), as the former is in the latter's continuity.
- Colin McRae: DiRT, despite the name, is a sequel to Colin McRae Rally 2005, and all the following DiRT games are in the same franchise. It was only after the 2009 game DiRT 2 that the Colin McRae title was dropped due to the namesake rally driver was killed in a helicopter crash shortly after the first DiRT.
- Mario Artist, a series of 3 games for the N64 Disk Drive, is a sequel to Mario Paint. Super Mario Maker was also originally intended to be a Mario Paint sequel.
- Nier is a distant sequel series to the original Drakengard, its story taking place after one of the latter's endings wherein the final battle between the heroes and the Big Bad spills over into our world and leads to humanity's extinction''.
Web Original
- BikdipOnABus
has his LP of a capless, cannnonless, coinless playthrough of Super Mario 64 and later, a capless, cannonless, all-coins playthrough of it.
- The G0ATFAC3 Corner has two of these, both taking place after the Bad Ending: The G0ATFAC3 Corner GT takes place two years after the original series, whilst The Goatfloyd Corner DX takes place inbetween the original series and GT.
- Phaeton Legacy, Infinity and upcoming Crisis.
Western Animation
- All Hail King Julien: Exiled is the sequel series to All Hail King Julien, though it ultimately aired between season 4 and season 5, which premiered on May 12, 2017.
- The 2022 Disney Junior series Alice's Wonderland Bakery takes place after the events of the 1951 movie that inspired it. The show focuses on Alice, the great-granddaughter of the original Alice alongside other Descendants of famous Wonderland characters (with the exception of The Doorknob and The Cheshire Cat) who are working at Wonderland Bakery.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender was followed by The Legend of Korra.
- Avengers Assemble is not a sequel to The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes in any way, although it tried to create the impression that it's either this or an Alternate Continuity sequel to The Avengers film. In fact, it's neither, since it's actually set in the same universe as Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
- Batman Beyond was a sequel to the entire DC Animated Universe most particularly Batman: The Animated Series taking place in the nearly-distant future, where Bruce Wayne has retired and a new Batman takes up the mantle. Before that, The New Batman Adventures took place a few years after the original series, although it's sometimes considered just a new season, not a whole new series (it even has the same title sequence). Justice League (Unlimited) was a sequel series to all of the DCAU, but was most clearly a successor to Superman: The Animated Series, due to the continued prominence of Lex Luthor and Brainiac as well as continuing several Myth Arcs from Superman TAS.
- Ben 10 was followed by Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and finally Ben 10: Omniverse.
- The 2006 Biker Mice from Mars revival takes place ten years after the events of the original 1993 series.
- Care Bears & Cousins is essentially one to Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot, with the same main bears and villain, but reintroduced the cousins.
- Castlevania: Nocturne is a sequel to the 2017 Castlevania series, set about 300 years after the original during the French Revolution.
- Inverted a bit with Dofus, with the show being a prequel to another property in the same universe, Wakfu.
- Dragons: Riders of Berk is a sequel to the film How to Train Your Dragon.
- Extreme Ghostbusters is a sequel series to The Real Ghostbusters, with Egon mentoring a new team made of college students.
- Godzilla: The Series is an immediate sequel to the 1998 American version of Godzilla, taking place not long after the end of the film with the last Godzilla egg hatching.
- I ♡ Arlo is set some time after the events of the film Arlo the Alligator Boy, where Arlo and his friends are now living at his dad's childhood boardwalk in New York and have adventures in the city while keeping the boardwalk going strong.
- Inspector Gadget has two sequels:
- Gadget and the Gadgetinis, which has Gadget promoted to Lieutenant and assisted by a pair of miniature robot versions of him named Fidget and Digit.
- An unrelated 2015 sequel, which has Gadget come out of retirement when his archenemy Dr. Claw returns to menace the world again.
- The Magic School Bus has a 2017 sequel airing on Netflix which was aimed at updating the series.
- Milo Murphy's Law begins with the first day of school after the summer which Phineas and Ferb took place during, with both shows taking place in a shared universe. From time-to-time throughout the first season, characters mention incidents that happened during their summer break that was the result of Phineas and Ferb's actions, such as the boys' rollercoaster falling out of the sky into one of their backyards. The second season would have some characters from Phineas and Ferb become part of the supporting cast as well.
- The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show is set after the Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie, with their life as time travelers out in the open at the end of the movie, the duo decide to share their stories in the form of a variety show.
- Speed Racer: The Next Generation, taking place 40 years after the events in the 1967 anime.
- Star Trek: The Animated Series is an animated sequel to the live-action Star Trek: The Original Series. It takes place on the same ship, during the same exploratory mission, with almost the entire main cast returning. It's generally seen as the fourth and fifth years of the Enterprise's five-year mission on TOS, which ended after 3 seasons.
- Star Wars:
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch is a direct sequel to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, picking up immediately where the earlier show left off. Its premiere episode begins with the title card from The Clone Wars burning away to reveal the Bad Batch title card, and also starts with a Clone Wars-style opening narrator. The show also directly continues the stories of various recurring characters from The Clone Wars, including the eponymous Bad Batch.
- Star Wars Rebels is a more Distant Sequel that begins roughly fifteen years after The Clone Wars. It doesn't follow on from its predecessor as directly as The Bad Batch, but over time it reintroduces a lot of characters from The Clone Wars post-Time Skip.
- Steven Universe was followed by Steven Universe: The Movie and Steven Universe: Future, both of which are set two years after the former's finale and were the result of the show being quietly Un-Cancelled behind-the-scenes. After being told the show wouldn't continue past a fifth season, creator Rebecca Sugar concluded its Myth Arc, only to discover that the network had changed its' mind and was willing to give her a sixth season after she requested making a TV movie finale. The Movie would remain a relatively self-contained story as planned; meanwhile, season six would become an expanded epilogue Mini Series taking place after that, surprising fans who didn't expect the sixth season that the show's crew had mentioned in passing to actually be a sequel show.
- Several incarnations of the Transformers franchise have received revivals and continuations of sorts.
- Beast Wars was rather explicitly a sequel series to Transformers: Generation 1, though it takes place before and after it, and uses elements from both the G1 cartoon and the comic - Word of God states that Generation 1 has become like Arthurian legend to them, with the stories we know being their distortions of "actual" history. In turn, Beast Wars was given its own Sequel Series called Beast Machines.
- Transformers: Armada was followed by Transformers: Energon and (after some Executive Meddling to try and make it fit into the timeline) Transformers: Cybertron. Collectively they later became known as the Unicron Trilogy.
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) is a follow-up to Transformers: Prime.
- Transformers: Rescue Bots has Rescue Bots Academy which premiered in 2018.
- Trolls: TrollsTopia is an almost very literal one to Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, as it follows up Trolls World Tour in the same way The Beat Goes On! continued the first Trolls movie.
- Nicktoons's Voltron Force is this to the original series from several decades ago, though only 5 to 7 years have passed in-story. Its unclear, however, if Voltron: The Third Dimension is still canon (at least in part) or not.
- Xiaolin Showdown is followed by Xiaolin Chronicles, despite some Broad Strokes in terms of what happened between the two series.
- X-Men: The Animated Series is followed by X-Men '97, which premiered in 2024.