What prequel, sequel, spin-off, reboot and remake mean, with well-known examples

A sequel continues the story of a movie, and a prequel shows what happened before. A spin-off gives a character their own story. A reboot starts a series over from the beginning, and a remake tells the story of an older movie again, with different actors.

Prequel, sequel, spin-off, reboot and remake, in short

These five words tell you how a new movie or series is connected to an older one. The difference lies in when the story takes place and in what is kept from the original.

Movie and TV terms, with an example of each

The sequel, the prequel and the spin-off expand the same world. The reboot and the remake start over.

Sequel: the story continues

A sequel is a movie or series that continues the story of an earlier one, usually with the same characters. Put simply, it is a continuation.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) is the sequel to Top Gun (1986). It came out 36 years after the first movie, and Tom Cruise returns as the pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. His other roles are among the best Tom Cruise movies.

A sequel is easy to spot from its title. It usually has a number at the end, an added word or a subtitle, like “Maverick”.

What does prequel mean?

A prequel tells what happened before a story you already know. The word is made of “pre-” (before) and “sequel”.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, 22 years after the first Star Wars movie. Its story, however, takes place 32 years before that movie. Episodes I–III make up the prequel trilogy.

When you watch a prequel, you already know how the story ends. That is why the interest shifts to the road that leads there, and the movie relies on references to the original.

• Rogue One (2016) takes place a week before the 1977 Star Wars movie.
• Andor, the series about one of the heroes of Rogue One, shows the five years before that movie.

The best Star Wars movies

Spin-off: a character gets their own story

A spin-off is a movie or series that comes from another one but follows a different character or a different part of the story. Its hero was usually a supporting character in the original.

Puss in Boots (2011) is a spin-off of the Shrek series. Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, first appeared in Shrek 2 (2004). His movie tells what happened before he met Shrek.

The terms do not rule each other out. Better Call Saul (2015–2022) is both a spin-off and a prequel of the series Breaking Bad. Its story begins in 2002, six years before the first episode of Breaking Bad. Both series are among the best TV shows of all time.

What is the difference between a reboot and a remake?

A remake films the story of one particular movie again, while a reboot restarts a whole series from scratch. Both start over, but from different places.

The word reboot comes from computing, where it means restarting a computer. A reboot sets the earlier movies aside and rebuilds the characters and their story from the beginning. This makes the series easier to start for people who have not seen the old movies.

Batman Begins (2005), directed by Christopher Nolan, restarted the Batman series. It came after Batman & Robin (1997), which critics received badly, and showed again how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.

The best Batman movies

A remake uses an older movie as its source and tells the same story again, usually with different actors. Ocean’s Eleven (2001) is the remake of Ocean’s 11 (1960).

• Almost identical: Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998), remade almost shot for shot from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 movie.
• From animation to live action: Snow White (2025), after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Other movies from the studio are among the best Disney movies.
• Not every new movie is a remake: Batman (1989), like the 1966 movie, was based on the comic books, not on that movie.

How to tell what kind of movie you are about to watch

The title and the year usually tell you what kind of movie you have in front of you. A few signs:

• An added number or subtitle: it is usually a sequel, but not always: Star Wars: Episode I is a prequel.
• The same title, a different year and different actors: it is a remake or a reboot, which makes sense without the original.
• A supporting character's name in the title: it is probably a spin-off, like Puss in Boots or Better Call Saul.
• The story takes place earlier: it is a prequel; if you watch it after the original, you will catch the references.

For a long series where the story order differs from the release order, see Marvel movies in order.