Know Your Movie Sequel Terms, from Requel to Revival, Legacyquel to Threequel, and More

When we first started to sketch out Sequels Week, one major question kept popping up: OK, so what is a sequel? Or, more pointedly, what isn’t?

Over the course of the next week, we will attempt to answer that question through the celebration (and dissection) of some of the seminal sequels of our time. Naturally, we will also be tackling deeper queries involving the form itself. And, yes, we’ll be using terms like “legacyquel” (coined by our own alum Matt Singer) and “spiritual sequel” that can be a bit harder to pin down and truly define than, say, something like “prequel” or “trilogy.”

But as Hollywood continues to bet big on continuing stories and companion pieces — franchise filmmaking, you know it — these terms are only going to continue being coined. Let us help you make sense of them, plus a handful of related terms, just for fun. (In the interest of clarity, while a number of these terms can apply to other forms of media, from television to comic books, we’re only using them here as they apply to movies.)

(And, because sequels are so indebted to their original works, I wanted to shout out some great resources for this, including this Reddit thread and the website The Sequel Book). Journeying through the wide world of movie sequel terminology is a trip (and a half), and we expect this taxonomy will only grow as Hollywood keeps cooking up weird ways to essentially say “hey, we’re making another movie.”

Behold, our official Sequels Week Taxonomy!

Companion piece 

A film that exists within the same universe but does not share the same plot or characters.

Examples: “Zathura” and the “Jumanji” films; “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima.”

Crossover

A film that brings together characters, settings, and/or plots from two or more otherwise (and previously) separate film, franchises, or universes.

Examples: “Freddy vs. Jason,” “Alien vs. Predator,” the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.”

Direct-to-video

A sequel (of any kind) to a theatrically released film that bypasses theaters for video, DVD, or Blu-ray only release. Will we also lump streaming into this? We will!

Examples: “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride,” “8MM 2,” so many “Air Bud” and “American Pie” films.

‘Skyfall’©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Franchise

Pretty much every term here and type of sequel on offer falls under the banner of franchise filmmaking. These are the sprawling “universes” of connected films (and, often, television too) that share the same world, characters, and an ongoing storyline. They can include all kinds of sequels, prequels, spin-offs, reboots, remakes, and legacyquels.

Examples: The Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Universe, “Star Wars,” James Bond.

Follow-up 

As this list goes on, you’re going to get the sense that a lot of these terms are kind of the same thing. You’re not wrong! “Follow-up” is absolutely just another term for “sequel,” but one that seems to pop up when studios, filmmakers, and other brass somehow balk at using the word. See: “next film.”

Examples: Come on, you know the answer already. It’s all sequels.

Legacyquel 

A perpetual favorite and one of the few newly-minted terms that really holds water. As IW alum Matt Singer coined it over ten years ago, they are “a very specific kind of sequel — in which beloved aging stars reprise classic roles and pass the torch to younger successors. … These movies are all about revitalizing old franchises through the notion of legacy.”

Examples: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the “Creed” films, “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Parallel story 

A film that takes place within the same time period as another film, but is told from a different perspective, often using different characters and settings. Also known as a “sidequel.”

Examples: “The Lion King 1 1/2,” “Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Back to the Future Part II,” “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima.”

‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’Twentieth Century Fox Film/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Prequel 

Ah, finally, something a little easier to define. It’s a sequel, but it takes place before the action of the previous film.

Examples: “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Monsters University,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

Pre-prequel

Someone recently used this term in response to the upcoming “Conjuring” prequel “The Conjuring: First Communion,” which is itself a prequel to “Annabelle,” which was a prequel to “The Conjuring.”

Examples: “The Conjuring: First Communion,” “Alien: Prometheus.”

Next film

Ah, here we are again. “Next film” is absolutely just another term for “sequel,” but one that seems to pop up when studios, filmmakers, and other brass somehow balk at using the word. See: “companion piece,” “follow-up.”

Examples: This is a temporal question, and the answer is “whichever film came out after the last one.”

Reboot/remake/reimagining

A new version of an existing story (that’s been put to film before), film, or franchise. Like “follow-up” or “next film,” there are a lot of terms here thrown around for what is essentially the same thing.

Examples: “Batman Begins,” “Casino Royale,” “Star Trek,” “The Mummy,” “Ocean’s Eleven.”

Requel 

Often quite similar to the legacyquel, as it will take existing characters and plotlines, add new characters and plotlines, and function as both a prequel and something of a reboot. Sometimes, as is the case with David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” series, this requires ignoring the existence of other prequels and sequels.

Examples: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” 2018’s “Halloween,” 2022’s “Scream.”

‘Creed’Warner Bros.

Spin-off

Similar to a parallel story or a sidequel, a spin-off takes material from an existing film or franchise to make a new story that exists generally in the same universe, but can (crucially) stand alone. Audiences will likely get more out of it if they’re caught up on the entire franchise, but that is not required for enjoyment and understanding.

Examples: “Creed,” “Bumblebee,” “Logan.”

Spiritual sequel 

Later this week, we’re going to have an entire list of these films, which will likely go much further to explain what they are and how they function. For now, chew on this: they are films that are similar to or somehow inspired by a previous film, but are not actually a part of that film and its own franchise. They might feature similar characters or be from the same director or writer, but they do not explicitly exist in the same world. They just feel like they can.

Examples: “The French Connection” and “To Live in Die in L.A.,” “Carlito’s Way” and “Scarface,” “Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich.”

Threequel 

The third film in a franchise. This is a mostly silly term, but it is different than “trilogy” (up next), as it can apply to stories that have three or more films.

Examples: “Jaws 3-D,” “The Godfather Part III,” “Toy Story 3,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Trilogy 

A film franchise that includes three (and only three!) films.

Examples: “Back to the Future,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Dark Knight” trilogy.

Unofficial sequel

Oh, legality! An unofficial sequel is a film made without the consent, involvement, or approval of the original film’s creator (or producers, studio, etc.). They tend to be, at best, scrappy endeavors.

Examples: “Return to Oz,” “Zombi 2,” “Showgirls 2: Penny’s from Heaven.”