History Main / TwoPartTrilogy

* Likewise, the ''BackToTheFuture'' movies; although the first ends on a definite SequelHook, it can be clearly be enjoyed by itself. The second, however, ends on a clear CliffHanger that obviously requires a third movie in order to be resolved.

** Although the sequel initial seems to end with a GainaxEnding that literally has the main character going "What... the... fuck...???" just as the credits role, the after-credits scenes explain things pretty nicely and set up a clear CliffhangerEnding, with [[spoiler: the Assassins racing to stop the world from exploding.]]

*** ExecutiveMeddling did want to end the first movie on a happy note.

** WordOfGod is that the ending was never meant as a SequelHook, but only as a joke. They also envisioned the trope of heroes riding off into the sunset.

->''All we heard leading up to ''{{Halo}} 3'' is that we were going to "Finish the Fight." Well, we wouldn't have to finish any fight if the [[{{Microsoft}} Big M]] wouldn't have given us the big stiffy with such a shitty ending in ''Halo 2''!''

**** Well, keep in mind that while the immediate plot is resolved and the Death Star is destroyed at the end of the first film, TheEmpire hasn't been defeated, TheDragon is still at large, and the BigBad hasn't even been ''met'' yet, so it's pretty safe to say that Lucas hoped to do more movies. At this point, however, we'll probably never know for sure what the original plans for sequels actually were... [[http://www.starwarz.com/starkiller/ Although we can guess.]]

* The final film in the ''Harry Potter'' saga is explicitly stated to be two parts of the same film.

* The Twilight series is an odd example. It originally ''was'' supposed to be a two part series, but the second book, Forever Dawn, was broken into ''New Moon'', ''Eclipse'', and ''Breaking Dawn''. This resulted in development of the wolves and Jacob, with less emphasis on Bella's point of view of [[spoiler:her pregnancy]].

*** ''Halo'' is now up to five games (with a sixth coming), three novels, a graphic novel compilation, a comic series, and an anime OAV (and ''District9'' began life as the ''Halo'' live-action adaptation.) It's safe to say that this series went beyond the scope of just being a trilogy long, long ago, and was always meant to do as such.

** Rowling only wrote the entire series after the first book was such a success and the publishers asked her to. While she kept things pretty consistent, there are still a few details of the first book that are a bit sticky-outy, including one scene where Neville's family thought he was a Muggle because he didn't show signs of magic and later worried that his first use of magic might not be "enough" to get him into Hogwarts. Later books said that non-magic children born of magic parents are Squibs and people either seem to be magical or not. There's also the fact that the first book is the most self contained of the series, with a brief explanation given for Snape's hatred and helping, why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry, and a vague sequel hook with "Voldemort isn't dead, but if he's defied again and again he may never return to power".

** Note also that the second and third movie were shot and produced together (similarly to the three ''LordOfTheRings'' movies) whereas the first one was originally intended as a stand-alone film with the ending being a joke rather than set-up for a sequel.

* An interesting comparison between the kinds of trilogy is the ''StarWars'' trilogies; in the original trilogy, ''A new hope'' is clearly made as a movie that can stand by itself (although the narrative is clearly open to the possibilities of later movies), whereas ''Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return Of The Jedi'' - greenlit after the success of the first - are more closely linked together and separated by a clear CliffHanger ending. In the prequel trilogy, however, it was obvious to all that all three movies were going to be made, so all are incorporated together more tightly as a trilogy.

* Similarly, ''TheLastAirbender'' was made with the expectation of sequels that may now never be, such as [[AdaptationDecay the changes]] [[ElementalBaggage to Firebending]]: WordOfGod says they're meant to make Sozin's Comet "More impressive". Welp, too late now.

* Many people assumed that this would happen with Chris Nolan's series of ''{{Batman}}'' films - ''BatmanBegins'' was (as the title implies) a setup of the protagonist, using a few obscure villains from the comic, and ends on a minor SequelHook. ''TheDarkKnight'' resolves the loose threads of the first film, pits Batman against his most famous enemy, and before its release, was assumed to be setting up Two-Face as the villain for a third installment. Instead, Two-Face was a secondary villain for ''Dark Knight'' and died at the end. Nolan planned to bring back the Joker - in fact, the whole reason he started making ''{{Batman}}'' films at all is because he wanted to see the Joker on trial, and was mad at TimBurton for killing off the character in his series - but now Heath Ledger [[AuthorExistenceFailure is dead]], so he can't do that thing anymore ([[TheOtherDarrin unless he is recast]]). If there is a third movie, it will have to be quite different.
** There will be a third movie. [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/ It's official.]]

** ''MassEffect'' is actually an exception of this trope as {{Bioware}} had ALWAYS planned on it being a trilogy and essentially planned the plot out from the beginning. They aren't just trying to milk everything. The series has seen natural progression so far with the first two games.

* An interesting variation is the {Golden Sun} series. The first Golden Sun and its sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, were originally intended to be one game, but were seperated due to the GBA's space limitations. And with announcement of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, we have an occurance of this trope.

*** Marty's girlfriend leaves with Marty and Doc at the end of the original movie. The authors, when working on the sequel, didn't know what to do with her. Hence her passing most of the movie passed out (drugged by Doc / [[NeverShallTheSelvesMeet unconscious from meeting herself]]). WordOfGod say that if they had known they were going to get a sequel, she would not have been written in the cliffhanger.

** WordOfGod is that the cliffhanger at the end of the first movie caused them some problems because they hadn't thought any of it out yet; a lot of the first third of the second movie is a result of trying to tie up all that stuff.
** According to one of the commentaries on the BTTF DVD, the "To Be Continued..." was NEVER intended to be part of the film. Indeed, the original theatrical cut doesn't have it, it was put in for the video release.
** This results in a bit of a continuity hiccup in regards to the whole "What are you, yellow/chicken?" character quirk in 2 and 3. In the first movie, Marty was pretty much in control, but the execs decided that he would need to go through some kind of growth to be interesting in the sequels. Whatever. So they decided to give him this weakness that comes out of frigging NOWHERE...
** However, it's agreed by some that the ending of the second movie was done ''well''; the story arc for the film was mostly resolved and the villain overcome, giving much-needed audience satisfaction while still leaving it open for the third movie. [[TropesAreNotBad More movies should take note]].

** ''{{Breakout Character}}s'': Characters who had only minor roles in the original movie, but those scenes proved immensely popular with viewers are likely to be given bigger roles in the sequel, in the hope to capitalize on their success.

* {{''Xenosaga''}} actually flips this around; in this series its the first and second entries that are closely interconnected together (as episode 1 was originally meant to be longer, but was then split in half) and the 3rd entry that stands more on its own, having started off with a time skip.

* ''Xenosaga'' actually flips this around; in this series its the first and second entries that are closely interconnected together (as episode 1 was originally meant to be longer, but was then split in half) and the 3rd entry that stands more on its own, having started off with a time skip.

* Xenosaga actually flips this around; in this series its the first and second entries that are closely interconnected together (as episode 1 was originally meant to be longer, but was then split in half) and the 3rd entry that stands more on its own, having started off with a time skip.