History Main / OrphanedSeries

** 2 episodes - ''WebAnimation/AfterSchooligans'', ''WebAnimation/FightInFlight'', ''WebAnimation/InsaneFury'', ''WebAnimation/ObjectHavoc'', ''WebAnimation/ObjectMadness'' and ''WebAnimation/ObjectRedundancy''
** [=1 episode/=]{{Pilot}} - ''WebAnimation/BeckyBucket'', ''WebAnimation/MelodyStar'', ''WebAnimation/ModernObjects'' and ''WebAnimation/ObjectShow''

* ''Webcomic/WishfulThinking'' went dead silent just a month (two chapters and a interlude) into its runtime, right before the competition could officially start. The creator was never heard from again with their last webcomic update dating back four years ago.

* ''Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness'' might have run solely on PlotBunny fuel, but it is very well-written. Unfortunately, the fic seems to have been discontinued due to lack of interest and time to continue writing for it, and has now been put up for adoption.
* ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'' was this for a long time. The author, who started it in 1980 and began posting it online in 1997, gave it up in 2002 after her personal life imploded (mother had Alzheimer's, laid off from her job, etc.). The two-thirds of the book she'd finished remained on her website to drive readers nuts. She never thought she would finish it, but in early 2009 she was hit by literary lightning, wrote 300 pages in 3 weeks, and finished the thing. (The final product in book form is over 650 pages long.) She has now released the first half of the long-promised sequel, ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone''.
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7350801/1/Colonization_First_Contact Colonization: First Contact]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic with the typical "human in Equestria" premise, except with a twist: instead of the typical self-insert, it features a space expedition of scientists and soldiers who stumble upon the planet Equestria. Unfortunately, it petered out just as things had started getting interesting; all we got are five chapters, and a piece of the sixth on the author's profile. The author later announced he will not be finishing the fic (and offers it to any enterprising author who would like to finish it.)

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4464089/1/Yellow-Submarine Yellow Submarine,]]'' a ''Harry Potter'' fic, was almost finished when its author decided to wrap up an earlier loose end. The related subplot was reintroduced, then abandoned.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' series ''Consequences of Our Pasts'' was meant to be an exploration of the Avatar cycle starting with Aang and show the results of having no Airbenders left for the cycle to use, as well as explore how [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin events in the distant past made the canon War inevitable]]. Midway through the second of five projected stories, the author put it on hold for over two years due to RealLife concerns, then expressed dissatisfaction and burnout (as well as belief that ''FanFic/EmbersVathara'' expressed his intended themes more effectively) before finally removing it all from Platform/FanFictionDotNet. Only the first part of the first story, ''The Aftermath: Aang's Book'', is now archived [[http://davidvanbeveren.nl/archive/airbender.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=e19a100b7894c1c780096fd7e1b9d97e&topic=2793.0 here]], and that is mostly setup.

* Obscure ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' fanfiction ''Orange and Blue'' by Inkling Studios. It was first cancelled as a fanfic in late 2016, then [[SubvertedTrope being revived]] in early 2017 as a webcomic... [[HistoryRepeats only for THAT to be cancelled as well]] due to the creator losing interest in the game and having poor experiences with the fandom.
* ''Fanfic/TwilightPrettyCure'' was abandoned after the author was accused of mishandling sensitive subjects such as rape. Though she tried to address this problem by rewriting the story to make it less offensive, the backlash against it eventually caused her to give up on it completely with several of the revised chapters still not reposted.
* When the ''Manga/MonsterMusume'' anime first aired back in 2015, several artists and anons met on imageboards to discuss the series, and decided to create a parallel story starring the [[EnsembleDarkhorse Bicycle Cop]] and girls from the most dangerous liminal subspecies available, as a sort of "evil" counterpart of Kimihito's harem. So ''[[http://dailylifewithamonstergirl.wikia.com/wiki/Everyday_Life_With_Bicycle_Cop Everyday Life with Bicycle Cop]]'' was born. High-quality art of the girls was made, along with backstories and info pages that perfectly replicated Okayado's writing and drawing style. Several strips were made to show the interactions between the girls and the cop, like a very funny and occasionally sweet sitcom. Unfortunately the artists either got bored, had other commitments or jumped to other fanbases, so the project slowed down and eventually came to a halt. The anons sent the whole work to Okayado as a sign of gratitude, in any case.

* ''FanFic/UniverseFalls'', a ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' and ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' crossover retelling was 102 chapters in, and halfway through what they called "Arc 9" of a planned 11 arc story. There were even preliminary plans to do a sequel series once they finished. They even had the titles for the remaining episodes posted online for what the general flow/themes of the remaining parts of the story would be. But then, in mid 2022, the author announced that he was putting the fic on "indefinite hiatus". In part because of sheer exhaustion for having worked on it for 7 years and no longer considering it fun. In part because they had [[Fanfic/KeysToTheKingdomkingdomhearts other stories]] they were now more invested in. And in part because of a psychosomatic association it now has with the death of their father. While apologetic, they just don't have the flow anymore to finish it out.

* The first two instalments of Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Space Odyssey'' series, ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and ''[[Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact 2010: Odyssey Two]]'' have film adaptations, but not ''2061: Odyssey Three'' or ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. Creator/TomHanks expressed interest in doing film adaptations of the last two, but this was ''ages'' ago, Douglas Rain has died, and Keir Dullea is probably too old to do the rest of the series.
* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' survived a ChannelHop of distributors (from Disney to Fox), but then Creator/WaldenMedia's contract with the Creator/CSLewis estate ended and so did the film series. The third film's poor reviews and AdaptationDecay certainly didn't help. While a planned adaptation of ''The Silver Chair'' was announced back around 2013 which would've be a reboot directed by Creator/JoeJohnston, it has since been cancelled in favor of a new reboot of some sort for Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* ''The Literature/{{Divergent}} Series'' had this fate given that the final book ''Allegiant'' was split into two movies (''Allegiant'' and ''Ascendant'')...that were not shot concurrently.[[note]]This was unlike Lionsgate's previous YA franchise ''Film/TheHungerGames'', whose two-part finale was filmed back-to-back, so it was able to release the second even if the first underperformed (which it didn't). ''Divergent'' obviously wanted to [[FollowTheLeader follow its lead]], but the series never generated as much interest as ''The Hunger Games'' and [[{{Foreshadowing}} the second film underperformed]], which should be enough writing on the wall for Lionsgate to cut the films' funding.[[/note]] Part one ended up being a BoxOfficeBomb, so the next one never materialized.
* ''Film/{{Eragon}}'' never had any sequels despite 3 later books to adapt. The film underperformed - [[PresumedFlop not financially]], but regarding its critical and audience reception - and there wasn't enough interest in continuing it.
* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' only adapted the first season of the three season animated series it was based on, but due to a poor critical and audience reception the planned sequels were never made.

* Creator/RoaldDahl's third book about [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka]], ''Charlie in the White House'' -- which would have picked up from the SequelHook at the end of ''Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator'' -- never got further than Chapter One.

* Creator/LilithSaintcrow's ''Literature/{{Steelflower}}'' trilogy wound up subverting this. At one point, the author stated on her website that she would not be continuing the series due to [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil heavy piracy of the ebook edition of the first installment]], but wound up releasing the second and third installments of the trilogy nearly ten years later, completing it.

* ''Literature/IsaacAsimovTheCompleteStories'': The introduction of ''Volume 1'' makes it clear that Dr Asimov was intending to work with {{Creator/Doubleday}} to republish all of his fiction in a format that would make finding stories easy, but having only 88 stories/poems when his short ScienceFiction is more than two hundred shows that at least two more volumes would be needed. Once you add in the MysteryFiction and {{Poetry}} counts, the two lonely volumes look very incomplete.

* Creator/EricFlint's two ''Literature/JoesWorld'' satrical fantasy novels were among the first things he ever wrote for professional publication, and he hoped to extend the series, but he had to divert his attention to more marketable works, and passed away twenty years later with a third novel only partially finished.

** ''Manga/LegalDrug'' was halted for a few years, but it continued in 2011 under a new title, ''Drug and Drop''. Then, they dropped it again in 2013.

* Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn allows an author to ''literally'' orphan a fic (original or otherwise), disowning a work that they no longer want to be attached to, with the "new" author being [[AlanSmithee orphan_account]]. This can be done with both unfinished and completed works, and naturally, a vast majority of the fics "written" by orphan_account are of the former.

* Website/FimfictionDotNet allows authors to label their stories as being "On Hiatus" or "Cancelled", though whether or not an orphaned fic will actually make use of either label is a toss-up.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' series ''Consequences of Our Pasts'' was meant to be an exploration of the Avatar cycle starting with Aang and show the results of having no Airbenders left for the cycle to use, as well as explore how [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin events in the distant past made the canon War inevitable]]. Midway through the second of five projected stories, the author put it on hold for over two years due to RealLife concerns, then expressed dissatisfaction and burnout (as well as belief that ''FanFic/EmbersVathara'' expressed his intended themes more effectively) before finally removing it all from Website/FanfictionDotNet. Only the first part of the first story, ''The Aftermath: Aang's Book'', is now archived [[http://davidvanbeveren.nl/archive/airbender.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=e19a100b7894c1c780096fd7e1b9d97e&topic=2793.0 here]], and that is mostly setup.

* A fanmade animation by [=NipahDUBS=] based on the horror RPG ''VideoGame/MadFather'' ran on Website/YouTube with the goal to have six episodes, according to the [[https://youtu.be/6fdI6fLIoDs description]] of the first episode. However, only two episodes were made (that tells a little about the beginning of the story) and the project was dropped, according to the [[https://youtu.be/zOEXpeWIqpk second episode]]'s description. It has only "PART THREE IS CANCELLED." written on it, with no reason explained. Both episodes on Website/YouTube had the comments section disabled.

* Many Website/YouTube reaction videos where someone watches a certain series end up unfinished. Although sometimes it's not because the "reactor" became unable or uninterested, but because [[ScrewedByTheLawyers the ones holding the copyright make the video be pulled]] (and three strikes terminates the channel).

[[folder:East Asian Comics]]
* While ''Manhwa/{{Chonchu}}'' had its first part driven to completion, its second part is still pending 10 years after the end of the first part and there's no prospective date for a release.
* Many manga/manhua/manhwa continued until the end but their non-official fans-translations didn't. Manhwa ''Metal Heart'' is such an example.
** ''Yoo Ah Dok Jon'' only ran 15 chapters then was abandoned without any news.
** ''Manhwa/PhDPhantasyDegree'' aka ''Master School Olympus'' only ran to 10 volumes, while the author seemingly moved on to do other projects.
** ''Manhwa/CavalierOfTheAbyss'' was abandoned just after a big twist was revealed and nearly reaching a climax.

[[/folder]]

** She's also discontinued ''The Whole Plate'' - a series examining various film theories in relation to the Michael Bay ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' films. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=267&v=azw-FP9Gb-U&feature=youtu.be Her final word on the series' state came in August 2018]], where she said it was on hold due to entering more controversial territory (of the particular film theories she began introducing the series with, critical race theory had yet to be tackled), but it never came to be.

* Pretty much everything by Creator/RobLiefeld after he and the other Image founders left Marvel. He's become notorious for starting new comic titles (or revamping the existing ones) only to abandon his plans partway through. The list of mishandled crossovers alone can make a significant portion of this list. Most notoriously, he's gone ''SIXTY-TWO MONTHS'' between issues of a ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'' limited series.

* In the mid-90s, three different companies produced comics based on ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. The first company, Gladestone, published two mini-series set in Season Two before passing it to Marvel. Marvel did an adaptation of ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' and started two series set in Season Three (one with the Rangers in morphed state and a flip book with the team in Ninja form coupled with stories based on ''Series/VRTroopers''). Only six issues of ''those'' were made before it was passed over to Awesome Comics where only ''one issue'' of a ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' comic and an ad talking about a crossover between the Zeo team and ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'' was made. Moral of the story - don't make comics set in an ever-changing continuity.

* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'' is at risk of becoming this, as David Gerrold is pushing 70 years of age and [[DevelopmentHell has yet to finish Book 5 (of a planned 7)]], after Book 4 ended on a {{cliffhanger}}.

* In a particularly early example, the ''Horace'' series of video games on the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum became orphaned following the departure of its creator from the video game industry in the mid-80's after suffering a collapsed lung. The series came to a close in 1985, with a standalone game appearing ten years later, and then nothing since.

** Before being released, six episodes for ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' were planned. The first episode was critically acclaimed, but [[AcclaimedFlop flopped financially]], so they decided to make the series shorter, by merging episodes 2, 3, 4 ''and'' 5 into a single episode, leaving the series with only 3 episodes. But ''Shenmue II'' (still universally acclaimed as an awesome game) flopped even ''harder'' than the first one (all thanks to the game being released as an UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} exclusive in America, and the UsefulNotes/{{Dreamcast}} dying out in Europe and Japan), so plans for future games in the series were abandoned by Sega. Creator Yu Suzuki managed decades later to get a ''Videogame/ShenmueIII'' done with the help of crowdfunding. But the story still ends on a SequelHook and the game has a letter hoping for a ''Shenmue IV''.
** ''VideoGame/ElDoradoGate'' was intended to be released in 24 bimonthly installments. Due to the death of the [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]], the last 14 volumes were canned. Slightly averted in that Creator/{{Capcom}} [[AbortedArc planned for this ahead of time]], and gave the game a proper ending in Volume 7.
** SEGA also had the honor of publishing High Voltage Software's ''VideoGame/TheConduit'' and its [[VideoGame/Conduit2 sequel]], both designed to fully capitalize on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s processing power. Unfortunately, even though they both end with a {{Cliffhanger}}, poor sales of the latter discouraged High Voltage Software from continuing the series.

* The four-part ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' series from Atari was cut short with the release of ''Waterworld'', the third game in the series, thanks to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.