Prequels have practically cemented themselves into the framework of today’s movie monolith. From the Hunger Games prequel to Willy Wonka’s origin story to Bridgerton’s spin on romance in the Regency era, some of the most beloved movies and TV series in the past couple of years have been prequels to our most beloved stories. And most of them have been huge successes! The prequels released in 2023 alone made a huge impact on fans across many different fandoms and sparked a lot of discourse (not to mention they brought in a pretty penny too). But why are prequels so popular nowadays? Why are people so drawn to stories about things that happened in the past in fictional universes? Well, there are more than several reasons why people flock to movie theatres or streaming services to watch these kinds of stories, and the prequels released within the last year each had their own unique characteristics that drew people in.
Queen Charlotte
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story was definitely one of the most well-crafted stories to come out of Netflix’s muddled mess of releases over the past couple of years. The story follows the love story between Queen Charlotte, a key figure in the actual show, and King George, who has a very minimal, but impactful, role. Throughout the prequel show, viewers get to see Charlotte’s backstory, her fierce loyalty, and just how much she had to go through to get to where she was in the original series. The prequel gave people exactly what they wanted: a beautifully tragic love story that only adds depth to the original characters. It also carries a lot of the same characteristics that made Bridgerton so popular, like the romance, costume design, and covers of popular pop songs. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story was almost as popular as the first season itself, and many fans are hoping its success opened up the possibility for several more prequels centered around other characters (though none have officially been announced yet).
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
In contrast to Queen Charlotte, there was also a sequel about a character who no one would have seen coming. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was not the prequel anyone was expecting from Suzanne Collins; who on earth would want the backstory for President Snow, one of the most hated characters in YA fiction? And yet, it somehow worked (and inadvertently ended with a large portion of the fanbase thirsting for President Snow’s younger, blonder self). Prequels let viewers dive deep into the psyche of characters and see the past events that actually made them who they are. The contrast between Snow and Tigris’ younger and older selves is plain to see, both in the differences between the original series and the prequel as well as from the beginning of the movie to the end of it.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes also showed viewers the tentative beginning years of the Hunger Games, and just how different the world of Panem was just 64 years in the past. Like a lot of other dystopian series, the original Hunger Games series left a lot of questions unanswered about Panem, its history, and the overall development of the power imbalances in the first place. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes does its best to answer some of them while still telling an entertaining story. That kind of world-building and character-building is exactly the kind of thing that makes this prequel so attractive.
Wonka
There is one prequel that managed to get a lot of attraction despite it being a musical, and that was the Willy Wonka movie. Wonka follows a young Willy Wonka (played by Timothee Chalamet, something a lot of people definitely did not see coming, but he somehow managed to pull the role off spectacularly anyway) charismatically trying to start up his own chocolate brand with the help of his friends. Unlike the main characters in the other prequels on this list, Wonka is one of the most well-known characters in America. Everyone grew up reading or watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompas are extremely recognizable to almost anyone. This is in contrast to the other main characters of prequels, like President Snow or Queen Charlotte, who only fans of the corresponding movies or TV shows would recognize. This broadened the intended audience to just about everyone. This, on top of the wise choice to make it a prequel and not simply another half-baked cash grab of a remake, definitely paved the way for it to be a huge success – and it was! People were excited to watch a solid movie about a childhood favorite character, and it definitely showed on the financial side of things.
Wonka, Queen Charlotte, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes were all wildly different in both content and genre, but they were all successes in their own right. Prequels are not a one-size-fits-all type of deal, and each of these prequels had unique characteristics that helped them reach their intended audience. Because of how successful these types of movies and TV shows are, it would not be surprising to see a bunch of new prequels released within the next couple of years. There’s a lot of unexplored territory to work with, and if all goes well, fans of all sorts of franchises might be able to see movies centered around their own favorite characters.