In the 2000s following the success of Batman Begins and Casino Royale, the term 'reboot' became part of the pop culture lexicon, and every studio tried rebooting popular franchises, tossing out years of continuity in hopes to attract new audiences and for a while, that idea was the hot ticket item and in many ways still is. Yet around the 2010s, a shift started to take place, where the history of a franchise was not seen as baggage that needed to be discarded but instead embraced as something audiences were clamoring for. They wanted a return of their old favorites, which gave rise to the legacy sequel.

The term 'legacy sequel' was coined by writer Matt Singer to describe a type of film, a belated sequel to a beloved classic that shifts the focus to a new protagonist within an existing fictional universe. While this concept had existed before, something about it really took hold in recent years, as every big-budget franchise is looking to embrace its past while also trying to find its future. 2022 kicked off with Scream, for instance, which dealt with the very nature of legacy sequels as its big return hook.

This summer sees the release of Top Gun: Maverick, which will see Tom Cruise return in a sequel arriving 36 years later. Meanwhile, Jurassic World: Dominion is not just a sequel to the Jurassic World films but is bringing back the original cast of Jurassic Park. Later this year, Halloween Ends will conclude a new trilogy of Halloween movies that started in 2018 and brought back Jamie Lee Curtis to the franchise. Legacy sequels are all the rage and aren't going anywhere anytime soon. it seems.

While there is an inherent cynicism in the concept of bringing a long-running franchise back with fan-favorite actors years later, which can be seen as an easy and cheap nostalgic gimmick, many films have embraced the concept to tell interesting, thoughtful stories. The truly great ones are those that have moved the franchises forward, films that grapple with the idea of nostalgia, or ones that use the established film as a building block to bigger ideas, as the groundwork has already been laid out.

This list will primarily focus on straight legacy sequels, which bring back many members of the cast or continue a particular plot thread from prior installments, so not reboots like Mad Max: Fury Road, or films that bring back one legacy character but are primarily reboots first and foremost, like 2009's Star Trek. With that out of the way, here are the nine best legacy sequels.

9 Superman Returns

Brandon Routh as Superman Returns
Warner Bros.

Released 19 years after the last Superman movie, Superman Returns arrived in theaters in 2006 and while none of the original actors return the film is deeply tied to the films that came prior to it as it carries on their legacy throughout. A direct sequel to Superman: The Movie and Superman II, Superman Returns finds Superman returning to Earth after being away for five years to see that the world has moved on from him, including Lois Lane, who now has a fiancée and son; Superman must find his place in a world that has moved on.

Related: Will Top Gun: Maverick's Success Inspire More Legacy Sequels?

The film very much is a reference to Superman's place in pop culture, as he was not only returning to the big screen in the wake of other superhero movies taking center stage but in a world that seemed so far removed from the bright optimistic joys of the man of steel. Superman Returns carries the legacy of the two prior films, and while it was intended to launch a new franchise, in many ways it can be seen as the proper end to the trilogy that started in 1978. Thus, Superman Returns continues the franchise's themes of the cyclical nature between father and son, and ends on the hopeful note that Superman has returned, and he always will in one shape or form.

8 Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man No Way Home
Sony Pictures Releasing

While this is in the MCU's Spider-Man timeline, Spider-Man: No Way Home brings back not only past villains from the previous Spider-Man franchises but also sees Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return as their respective incarnations of Spider-Man. While this could have been easy fan service, these returns offer something meaningful in growing the MCU version of Peter Parker as a character. In a very meta way, the newest and youngest Peter Parker gets to learn from the two older more experienced versions of himself. The two Peters are also given a sense of closure, as their franchises were cut off abruptly without a proper ending. Spider-Man: No Way Home serves as a grand celebration of 20 years of Spider-Man movies, and how every version of Peter Parker matters.

7 The Muppets

The Muppets cast of muppets in a van with Jason Segal
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

One of the earliest cases for a legacy sequel in the modern era, The Muppets from 2011 sees Jason Segal write and star in a film that sees him as Gary, the older human brother to a muppet named Walter, who dreams of seeing the Muppets. The duo and Amy Adam's Mary, Gary's fiancé, must reunite the Muppets when they discover the classic Muppet Studio is going to be demolished by evil businessman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) for oil.

The film lays out many of the conventions that later legacy sequels would adopt, with the POV character being a major fan of the franchise and reminding the audiences how great the franchise was. The Muppets in the film, as they had in real life, had fallen out of pop culture favor and the movie (and filmmakers) see that putting on a big-budget version of the classic Muppet Show can return the characters to their former glory. The Muppets is sweet, emotional, and nostalgic while also telling a story about embracing oneself.

6 Doctor Sleep

Warner Bros. Pictures

Doctor Sleep is a movie that by all accounts should not work: making a sequel to one of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's most celebrated films while also adapting the Stephen King book Doctor Sleep, which was designed by the author to distance the story from the film which he hated. Yet director Mike Flanagan finds a way to mix the two very different materials into a cohesive whole that tells the story of a grown-up Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) grappling with the childhood trauma he endured.

Related: These Are the Best Ewan McGregor Movies, Ranked

Doctor Sleep uses the literal demons of the Overlook Hotel as metaphors for the demons that haunt a person, be it trauma or addiction. In the end, Danny must return to confront his literal and figurative demons, symbolized by his father. Doctor Sleep uses the original film to build off its themes and tell a personal story about what comes after the ending of a horrific story; is it doomed to a painful continuation, or can peace be achieved?

5 Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 cast including Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling
Warner Bros. Pictures

The long-awaited sequel to one of the most well-regarded science fiction movies of all time, Blade Runner 2049 seemed like a wild bet, yet director Denis Villeneuve managed to pull off a great film that works as a sequel to the original while also standing on its own as an engaging tech-noir thriller. The plot sees K (Ryan Gosling) a replicant who uncovers a secret that could change the course of his entire world and he eventually crosses paths with the first film's protagonist, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford).

Given the ambiguity of the original Blade Runner's ending and the conflicting reports from Ford and original director Ridley Scott on Rick Deckard's status as a replicant, Blade Runner 2049 walks a very fine line to not give a definitive answer and instead leave it up to the audience's interpretation. In a great homage to the original film's ending, Blade Runner 2049 offers its own ambiguous ending for audiences to debate over.

4 T2: Trainspotting

T2: Trainspotting 2
Sony Pictures Releasing International

Released 21 years after the original film, T2: Trainspotting very much stands in sharp contrast to the original film. Trainspotting is a film with a youthful energy that is full of life; T2: Trainspotting is a much more somber and melancholy film about the ravages of time, with all four lead characters nostalgic for their youth. Much like the film landscape in which it was released, they are trying to recapture a moment in time, and the desire for that leads to disaster for many, as now it is the past they are addicted to. These are no longer young men with the world in front of them, they are older and now must grapple with the lives they've lived and what is behind them as well as what is left for them. T2: Trainspotting is a legacy sequel that deals with the passage of time head-on.

3 The Color of Money

Tom Cruise and Paul Newman in the pool house in The Color of Money
Touchstone Pictures

The original legacy sequel, before even the concept of a legacy sequel was a general idea in the pop culture discourse, 1986's The Color of Money is a sequel to 1961's The Hustler and sees Paul Newman reprising his role as Edward "Fast Eddie" Felson, a pool hustler who has retired 25 years after the events of the previous film, but decides to get back in the game and takes on a pupil, Vincent (Tom Cruise). Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie earned Paul Newman his first Academy Award win after being nominated seven times, and the film's basic premise of seeing an actor returning to a role (with a major part of the plot finding them taking on a younger protégé) defines the legacy sequels which would follow.

2 Creed

Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in Rocky
Warner Bros. Pictures

2015 was a big year for popular franchises returning, with Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Mad Max. However, one film took many by surprise that year, and that was Creed by director Ryan Coogler in his second film. Both a legacy sequel and a spin-off of the Rocky franchise, Creed shifts the focus from Rocky Balboa to Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), the son of Rocky's former rival turned friend Appollo Creed, who died in the ring. Adonis seeks out Rocky to train him as he wants to break free, something reminiscent of the apparent trap of legacy sequels, with the film using this to its advantage: how does one become their own person when they are defined by someone else, or how does a franchise break free when it is so closely tied to one star or character?

What makes Creed such a great film is its embrace of the Rocky franchise, using the rather silly Rocky IV as a building block for an emotional story that returns the franchise to its quiet grounded roots from the first film while also allowing it to stand on its own and forge his own path. In the climax, when the final bell rings and Adonis rises to fight, the classic Rocky music begins to play. This symbolizes that the spirit of the franchise is more than one person; anyone can be worthy and go the distance.

1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars Episode 7 The Force Awakens
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the quintessential Hollywood legacy sequel its massive box office success is what every studio is trying to chase now. The Force Awakens very much leans on nostalgia for the original Star Wars trilogy in countless ways: all the film's marketing leans heavily on the franchise's iconography, there’s a return to the practical sets as opposed to the CGI worlds of the prequels, and the return of franchises favorites like Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, and other characters like R2D2, C3PO, and Chewbacca.

Yet while all that got people in the door, The Force Awakens became such an instant sensation because audiences connected with the new characters. Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and Kylo Ren all sparked a new interest in the franchise from both old fans and brought on a whole host of new ones.

While a legacy sequel is a great chance to see an old favorite return, a great installment also knows when and how to pass the baton on to the next generation. It knows when it is time to let go and give the toys over to the new kids, and The Force Awakens does that so by the end of the movie, audiences are not just excited to see Luke Skywalker again but to see Rey go on her own journey. Regardless of how one feels about the later Star Wars sequels, for good or for ill, it is hard to forget just how caught up audiences were in The Force Awakens. It made the entire world excited about the storytelling possibilities of the future the same way an audience was who saw Star Wars for the first time in 1977.