When it comes to sequels, Hollywood and the public have a complicated relationship. On the one hand, sequels can continue a story that moviegoers have been captured by, and can even surpass the original in term of quality or popularity. Some of the best movies of all time have been sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather, Part II, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Aliens, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Dark Knight, The Wrath of Khan, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are considered staples of great cinema in addition to great sequels, to name just a few.

But you obviously can’t have a sequel without first creating a story for it to succeed. Great sequels don’t necessarily have to follow great originals (although that certainly helps), but the original film has to do well enough to warrant continuing the story. Now I don’t work in the film industry in any capacity, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. But from what I understand, creating and releasing an original movie can be a very risky venture. Aside from the years of work that go into writing and rewriting a script as well as casting, shooting, and financing a movie, the end result may be a film that doesn’t make any money or that the audience isn’t interested in.

Still, it helps to be optimistic. Even before their first project is finished, some filmmakers are already at work on potential sequels they hope to get to make. And even then, if their original film IS successful and the public wants more, ideas for sequels change. Those original sequel ideas come to occupy a unique place in relation to their franchise; not considered official sequels but never detached from the original work that inspired their creation.

These sorts of works will be the focus of this series: early sequels to popular movies and shows that were scrapped once their respective franchises became successful. I’ll let you decide for yourselves which is better – the sequel we got, or these sequels that might have been.

First, we’ll visit a galaxy far, far away with the first sequel to the original Star Wars, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.