Prequel series, of course , are the rage these days, including “The Lord of the Rings” and the “Game of Thrones”-inspired “House of the Dragon” coming soon, picking up the particular mantle from major franchises. Yet these stories are arranged far from the activities depicted in the previous tasks, making them an almost completely different animal.
Both “Obi-Wan” plus “Saul, ” by contrast, unfold with enough narrative proximity to the projects that launched them (“Star Battles: A New Hope” and “Breaking Bad, ” respectively) to feature characters from their predecessors and directly tap into those situations, spotting how these offshoots feed off of the earlier stories.
Paramount+ has been especially aggressive in this regard using its “Star Trek” galaxy, including the latest add-on, “Strange New Worlds, ” which also incorporates more youthful versions of many acquainted players. Indeed, the particular studio has been so eager to add to its overflowing fleet associated with “Trek” series how the spinoffs now have spinoffs, to go with sequels like “Picard. ”
In contrast to sequels, which in theory can boldly go ahead uncharted directions, the prequel represents a specific set of challenges. Since the audience is aware of limits on what can happen — and perhaps more considerably, what can’t — that creates a hard curb on the storytelling. The construction is definitely thus something like a jigsaw puzzle, exactly where everyone knows what the image ultimately looks like plus success hinges on figuring out how to assemble the particular pieces.
Logistically speaking, prequels can focus more narrowly on specific characters and don’t have to assemble a lot of the original cast. Recent examples like “The Sopranos” movie “The A lot of Saints of Newark” reflect the opportunities that creates, and the possible pitfalls as well.
“Saul” plus “Obi-Wan” obviously normally are not perfectly analogous, beginning with the expectations (and baggage) that everything in the decades-long “Star Wars”-related timeline brings with it, and the undeniable fact that the former essentially marketed a relatively minor character front and center. Yet they do talk about a few key characteristics that underscore why they worked, in a way that other movies plus series undertaking this often haven’t.
Individuals are, in simply no particular order:
Leave enough runway, but not too much
While it helps to end up being close enough to the earlier productions to produce narrative contact (thousands of years, not so much), there needs to be enough room to breathe to craft the plot that appears on its own — and perhaps even leave the door open for an encore, should that become desired and achievable.
To be fair, that wasn’t immediately obvious with “Better Call Saul, ” which seemed it might run out of pre-“Breaking Bad” area before it could arrive at a third season, much less its current six. And it highlights a point of departure meant for TV prequels from something like “Rogue One: The Star Wars Story, ” which was helpfully designed as a stand-alone movie (although ever ingenious, Disney+ has discovered a way to milk that will with — exactly what else? — a prequel , “Andor”).
The bottom line is that prequels need to thoroughly calculate where to start in order to convincingly build towards where they end, without trampling on or in any way detracting from the source materials that inspired them.
Give viewers that “Ohhh… inch response
One of the thrills that prequels can provide is improved insight into the activities with which viewers are actually familiar, and greater understanding of them. “Obi-Wan” intriguingly toed that will line in developing off nuances within the Kenobi-Anakin/Darth Vader powerful, while Saul provides added richness not to just the title character but Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and later Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), exposing what brought these to the places they will occupied when we very first met them in “Breaking Bad. inch
There is, invariably, a degree of fan service that may smack of pandering in those moments, but done right, it simply seems like a value-added prize for past patronage, which, just practically speaking, is why these projects exist to begin with.
Create your personal new mythologies
Despite the linkage in order to previous material, any prequel worth the salt has to create its own characters and story lines, especially if it wants to have any kind of longevity.
“Better Call Saul” has been a learn class in that, especially in the central question around Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), a pivotal figure in Saul’s life whose lack later on has provided the particular show’s central mystery throughout its run.
Since closely tethered because “Obi-Wan” was in order to bridging the space between “Revenge from the Sith” and “A New Hope, inch it too found a way to explore figures beyond those rooted in the original story, while adding levels and depth to what was happening in the galaxy during the intervening years.
The past isn’t constantly prologue, but given the inevitability associated with future prequels due to appetite for such content, will these lessons be taken to center? To paraphrase a certain princess, we can just hope.