Why creators often make sequels in spirit rather than in name

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 2 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When licensing battles or commercial failures block a direct sequel, creators find a workaround. By abandoning copyrighted characters and names but retaining the original's core themes and style, they create a "spiritual successor"—a distinct intellectual property that captures the essence of a predecessor without the legal baggage.

The concept of a spiritual successor arises from various constraints, most notably legal and commercial hurdles. In the realm of fiction, licensing issues often prevent creators from using established characters. For instance, the Sherlock Holmes estate has historically been aggressive in enforcing copyrights, forcing authors to use variations like "Herlock Sholmes" to avoid litigation. Similarly, in gaming, the studio FromSoftware was unable to produce a direct sequel to Demon's Souls on other platforms due to Sony holding the rights, leading them to develop the Dark Souls series instead.

Commercial outcomes also dictate the birth of these works. Irrational Games developed BioShock as a spiritual successor to System Shock 2 after the latter was deemed a commercial failure, and the publisher Electronic Arts refused to authorize a third installment. In such cases, the new work maintains a similar narrative structure or gameplay mechanics while operating under a completely new title and intellectual property.

Beyond legalities, spiritual successors can be driven by creative intent or shifts in studio ownership. Fumito Ueda's Shadow of the Colossus was designed to share narrative themes with his previous game, Ico, without requiring a canonical connection. Other successors emerge when former staff members leave a studio to form new ones, such as Playtonic Games developing Yooka-Laylee to evoke the style of Rare's Banjo-Kazooie, or Koji Igarashi leading Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as a successor to the Castlevania series.

The term is also applied to broader cultural shifts. In social media, Bluesky is viewed by some as a spiritual successor to Twitter following Elon Musk's acquisition and the subsequent rebranding of Twitter to X. Even in sports, the Ravens–Steelers rivalry is considered a spiritual successor to the Browns–Steelers rivalry due to the relocation of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore.

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