History Main / CliffhangerWall

* ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'': In the middle of "To Remind You Of My Love", [[spoiler: Mike [[TakingYouWithMe tackles Blaine off a stairway]]]] while fighting him with Amazi-Girl. We then cut to Amber waking up the next day remembering nothing since Amazi-Girl is her SplitPersonality, she and the cast proceed to go about their business as usual for the rest of the day, and we don't find out what happened until the next two chapters, [[spoiler: where it turns out Blaine survived and out for revenge, while Mike ends up in a coma he later dies from]].

* ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl'''s "December" ends with Mike flying into a rage and giving a blistering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[spoiler: Lucy]], destroying what little is left of their friendship and leaving the already depressed latter more broken than ever. The next chapter shifts focus to Abbey discovering what happened to his MissingMom - though considering [[spoiler: he finds out she was DeadAllAlong]], it's hardly a BreatherEpisode. Notably, these two chapters end Volume 3 and the first Omnibus collection.
* ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'':
** "The Thing I Was Before" ends with [[AttemptedRape Ryan]] arriving at Beck Wing [[AxesAtSchool armed with a knife]] to take revenge on the cast for exposing him, only for an enraged Amber to take his weapon and [[GoryDiscretionShot tear into him with it]]. The next chapter doesn't reveal until later that Amber simply maimed rather than outright killed him, instead focusing more on Joe's "Do List" for the campus women being leaked and him having to apologize for it.
** In the middle of "To Remind You Of My Love", [[spoiler: Mike [[TakingYouWithMe tackles Blaine off a stairway]]]] while fighting him with Amazi-Girl. We then cut to Amber waking up the next day remembering nothing since Amazi-Girl is her SplitPersonality, she and the cast proceed to go about their business as usual for the rest of the day, and we don't find out what happened until the next two chapters, [[spoiler: where it turns out Blaine survived and out for revenge, while Mike ends up in a coma he later dies from]].

** "The Thing I Was Before" ends with [[AttemptedRape Ryan]] arriving at Beck Wing [[AxesAtSchool armed with a knife]] to take revenge on the cast for exposing him, only for an enraged Amber to take his weapon and [[GoryDiscretionShot tear into him with it]]. The next chapter doesn't reveal until the end whether Amber outright killed him, focusing more on Joe's "Do List" being leaked and him having to apologize for it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': The seventh season ends with [[spoiler:Archer being shot and put into a coma. Seasons eight, nine, and ten follow Archer in noir, jungle, and space themed comatose dreams. Subverted in season eleven which has him finally awaking from the coma.]]

To qualify for this trope, a series should have a minimum of two entries released after the cliffhanger installment that don't pick up where that story left off, or at least some combination of a prolonged SequelGap and a plot ''unresolving'' entry. Either way, the creators must have released other works in that franchise afterwards. If they didn't, you've just been LeftHanging instead. Can overlap with NonLinearSequel if a series that started off going in chronological order begins to permanently jump around the timeline.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' ends with [[spoiler:Homura stealing Madoka's powers, becoming a devil, and gaining control of the world while trapping everyone in a LotusEaterMachine and erasing their memories]]. But despite this ending being done specifically to set up sequels, with the "Concept Movie" being the planned sequel film, said film would take ''eight years just to get an official name''. Instead, all the subsequent works have been spin-offs such as mangas, mobile games, and drama [=CDs,=] none of which take place after ''Rebellion'' and only one of which references it (''Wraith Arc'').

* Ever since ''Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce'' was quietly canceled in 2013 (in the middle of a chapter, no less), the primary timeline of the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series has never advanced past its last chapter. Instead, the creators have only published interquels like ''Anime/VividStrike'' and outright alternate timelines, like the ''Reflection'' and ''Detonation'' movies and the ''INNOCENT'' games.

* ''VideoGame/BeastBusters'' ends with the heroes defeating the alien mastermind behind the zombie infestation only to discover the rest of the invasion force arriving in a massive mothership. The sequel, ''Second Nightmare", was a DarkerAndEdgier reboot that didn't acknowledge this ending at all, and the two games after that were spinoffs with no connection to any other game in the series.

* ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'' has not progressed past the end of the first game, initially released in 2010.

* ''Film/{{Insidious}}: Chapter 2'' (2013) ends with [[spoiler:Elise (now a ghost) noticing a demonic presence lurking in the dark]]. The next two films ''Chapter 3'' (2015) and ''The Last Key'' (2018) were both prequels leaving the cliffhanger as the last chronological event. However, the fifth film, titled ''The Red Door'' and scheduled for 2023, is set to take place after ''Chapter 2''.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' ends with [[spoiler:Homura stealing Madoka's powers, becoming a devil, and gaming control of the world while trapping everyone in a LotusEaterMachine and erasing their memories]]. But despite this ending being done specifically to set up sequels, with the "Concept Movie" being the planned sequel film, said film has yet to come out. Instead, all the subsequent works have been spin-offs such as mangas, mobile games, and drama [=CDs,=] none of which take place after ''Rebellion''.

The reasons for this may vary. Maybe the creators just want to flesh out other elements of the world first, to better setup the resolution. Perhaps they have a serious case of writer's block and can't think of a satisfying resolution, so they're stalling until they can. Or they wrote themselves into a corner, but like the story too much to actually {{retcon}} the events. Whatever the case might be, creators must be careful -- if the audience decides that the cliffhanger will never be resolved, then [[TheChrisCarterEffect they may decide to abandon the series entirely]].

* In ''Series/AmericanGods'', the first season ends with Easter turning the land barren. This is treated like the climactic first shot that will start the War between gods, but two seasons on this is still yet to be addressed. Nobody references the barren lands, and the natural world doesn't seem to have been impacted beyond that one scene.

* In ''Series/AmericanGods'', the first season ends with Easter turning the land barren. This is treated like the first shot of a War between gods, but two seasons on this is still yet to be addressed. nobody references the barren lands, and the natural world doesn't seem to have been impacted beyond that one scene.

* ''Film/{{Insidious}}: Chapter 2'' (2013) ends with [[spoiler:Elise (now a ghost) noticing a demonic presence luriking in the dark]]. The next two films ''Chapter 3'' (2015) and ''The Last Key'' (2018) were both prequels leaving the cliffhanger as the last chronological event. However, the fifth film, titled ''Fear the Dark'' and scheduled for 2023, is set to take place after ''Chapter 2''.

* Zig-zagged by ''Manga/DragonBall'', as the long-running manga ended with a sudden 10-year timeskip with Goku meeting Uub and leaving to train with him, a timeskip that ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' immediately followed right after with an anime-only story with a finale that'd conclude the story of ''Dragon Ball''. With a new show kickstarted by ''Battle of Gods'' in 2013 and followed by 2015's ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', the series continued as an interquel between the Majin Buu saga and the End of Z, retconning GT out of canon. Even as the ''Super'' manga has progressed, it still hasn't reached Z's timeskip finale, with the new material staying with arcs between those two points, meaning there's no canon continuation of Z's ending.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' ends with [[spoiler:Homura stealing Madoka's powers, becoming a devil, and gaming control of the world while trapping everyone in a LotusEaterMachine and erasing their memories]]. But despite this ending being done specifically to set up sequels, with the "Concept Movie" being the planned sequel film, said film has yet to come out. Instead, all the subsequent works have been spin-offs such as mangas, mobile games, and Drama [=CDs,=] none of which take place after ''Rebellion''.

* ''Film/{{Insidious}}: Chapter 2'' (2013) ends with [[spoiler: Elise (now a ghost) noticing a demonic presence luriking in the dark]]. The next two films ''Chapter 3'' (2015) and ''The Last Key'' (2018) were both prequels leaving the cliffhanger as the last chronological event. However the fifth film titled ''Fear the Dark'', scheduled for 2023 is set to take place after ''Chapter 2''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'' has not gotten past the end of the first game, initially released in 2010.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 The second game]] ended with the protagonist, Dante, [[BolivianArmyEnding going through an apparent one-way motorcycle trip to the Demon World]]. The [[TheStinger epilogue cutscene]] implies the plot twist of him returning as [[spoiler:Lucia hears a motorcycle engine outside the Devil May Cry shop]], but he's never shown on-screen to confirm it. The following game, ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'', was a prequel to the series. The next game after that, ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', also used to be a cliffhanger wall, taking place between ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 DMC1]]'' and ''[=DMC2=]''. For more than a decade, the series did not follow up on that ending, and it's only until the ''Before the Nightmare'' prequel novel of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' where a HandWave was given to explain how Dante made it out of the Demon World - a portal "hole" just appeared in front of him, allowing him to return. In order to make the continuity more consistent with that ending, ''[=DMC4=]'' was also {{retcon}}ned into being a sequel to ''[=DMC2=]'' instead.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' (2006) closed out the 3rd Era in the Tamerilic calendar with the death of the last of the Septim emperors. ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' (2011) jumped a couple centuries ahead to year 201 of the 4th era, and hinted at a major war between the remnants of the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion brewing, which was not resolved by any of ''Skyrim's'' DownloadableContent. ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'' (2014) was a spin-off {{Prequel}}, set in year 582 of the 2nd era. Then came another spinoff ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends'' (2016) set during the Great War 25 years before ''Skyrim''. Then ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsBlades'' (2020) set 21 years before ''Skyrim'' in 4E 180. Creator/{{Bethesda}} are presumably reserving any updates to the timeline for ''The Elder Scrolls VI'', which as of 2022, has a single short teaser trailer and no announced release date.
* ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', chronologically the last game of the ''Franchise/CompilationOfFinalFantasyVII'', ends with Genesis Rapsodos flying away with Weiss' body saying "We still have much work to do". This has yet to be followed up. The japan-excluive mobile game ''Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII-'' takes place during the events of ''Dirge of Cerberus'' and ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is a prequel to the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and while it does heavily features Genesis, it never adressess any of the plot points from ''Dirge Of Cerberus''. Ditto with tie-in novels ''[[Literature/FinalFantasyVIIOnTheWayToASmile On The Way To A Smile]]'' and ''The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story'' both taking place between ''7'' and the film ''Advent Children''. Eventually, the whole continuity was rebooted with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', [[spoiler: that's implied to be a StealthSequel to the first continity with Sephiroth having rewritten the past. Still, the wereabouts of Genesis and Weiss are sill unknown.]] Granted, this is likely because ''Dirge of Cerberus'' is a contentious game.
* TheStinger of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' (2007) implied that [[spoiler: Kratos survived his apparent HeroicSacrifice]] yet the next two games ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta Ghost Of Sparta]]'' (2010) and ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension Ascension]]'' (2013) were both prequels that fail to adress what would happen next. It wasn't until 2018 that Kratos' story would continue with ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4''.

* The 14 years between ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2005) and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (2019) were filled with prequels, remakes and spinoffs on multiple platforms. To wit: The epilogue of ''II'' showed Sora, Riku and Kairu reading a mysterious letter from Mickey. After a remake of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' on the [=PlayStation=] 2, the subsequent mobile game ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Coded]]'' primely takes place before the epilogue and the content of the letter is eventually revealed but nothing more happens. Then we got the {{Interquel}} ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' on the Nintendo DS, the OriginsEpisode ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'' on the [=PlayStation=] Portable (with only a brief flashforward of Sora, Riku and Kairi [[OffscreenInertia who still haven't left their island]] in the ending) ''and'' a port of ''Coded'' on the Nintendo DS (with only the addition of a conversation between Mickey and Yen-Sid). Finally, ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance [Dream Drop Distance] ]]'', a proper sequel to ''II'' and the "prologue" of ''III'' came out on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012... but it was then followed by ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', an episodic PrequelInTheLostAge and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage]]'' which instead follows Aqua's journey after ''Birth By Sleep''. Thankfully, the ending of that game directly leads to the long awaited ''Kingdom Hearts III''.

* ''Film/{{Insidious}}: Chapter 2'' (2013) ends with [[spoiler: Elise (now a ghost) noticing a demonic presence]]. The next two films ''Chapter 3'' (2015) and ''The Last Key'' (2018) were both prequels leaving the cliffhanger as the last chronological event. However the fifth film titled ''Fear the Dark'', scheduled for 2023 is set to take place after ''Chapter 2''.

* Infamously, the 14 years between ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2005) and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (2019) were filled with prequels, remakes and spinoffs on multiple platforms. To wit: The epilogue of ''II'' showed Sora, Riku and Kairu reading a mysterious letter from Mickey. After a remake of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' on the [=PlayStation=] 2, the subsequent mobile game ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Coded]]'' primely takes place before the epilogue and the content of the letter is eventually revealed but nothing more happens. Then we got the {{Interquel}} ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' on the Nintendo DS, the OriginsEpisode ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'' on the [=PlayStation=] Portable (with only a brief flashforward of Sora, Riku and Kairi [[OffscreenInertia who still haven't left their island]] in the ending) ''and'' a port of ''Coded'' on the Nintendo DS (with only the addition of a conversation between Mickey and Yen-Sid). Finally, ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance [Dream Drop Distance] ]]'', a proper sequel to ''II'' and the "prologue" of ''III'' came out on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012... but it was then followed by ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', an episodic PrequelInTheLostAge and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage]]'' which instead follows Aqua's journey after ''Birth By Sleep''. Thankfully, the ending of that game directly leads to the long awaited ''Kingdom Hearts III''.

* Zig-zagged by ''Manga/DragonBall'', as the long-running manga ended with a sudden 10-year timeskip with Goku meeting Uub and leaving to train with him, a timeskip that ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' immediately followed right after with an-anime only story with a finale that'd conclude the story of ''Dragon Ball''. With a new show kickstarted by ''Battle of Gods'' in 2013 and followed by 2015's ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', the series continued as an interquel between the Majin Buu saga and the End of Z, retconning GT out of canon. Even as the ''Super'' manga has progressed, it still hasn't reached Z's timeskip finale, with the new material staying with arcs between those two points, meaning there's no canon continuation of Z's ending.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' did this intentionally. The first two-parter of the series was to reveal who Cartman's father is, with the first half acting as the last episode of Season 1. However, the Season 2 premiere was an AprilFoolsDay episode that was a ''[[ShowWithinAShow Terrance & Phillip]]'' special, with the actual Part 2 not airing for another three weeks after.

* Infamously, the 14 years between ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2005) and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (2019) was filled with prequels, remakes and spinoffs on multiple platforms. To wit: The epilogue of ''II'' showed Sora, Riku and Kairu reading a mysterious letter from Mickey. After a remake of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' on the [=PlayStation=] 2, the subsequent mobile game ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Coded]]'' primely takes place before the epilogue and the content of the letter is eventually revealed but nothing more happens. Then we got the {{Interquel}} ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' on the Nintendo DS, the OriginsEpisode ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'' on the [=PlayStation=] Portable (with only a brief flashforward of Sora, Riku and Kairi [[OffscreenInertia who still haven't left their island]] in the ending) ''and'' a port of ''Coded'' on the Nintendo DS (with only the addition of a conversation between Mickey and Yen-Sid). Finally, ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance [Dream Drop Distance] ]]'', a proper sequel to ''II'' and the "prologue" of ''III'' came out on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012... but it was then followed by ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', an episodic PrequelInTheLostAge and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage]]'' which instead follows Aqua's journey after ''Birth By Sleep''. Thankfully, the ending of that game directly leads to the long awaited ''Kingdom Hearts III''.

* Infamously, the 14 years between ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2005) and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (2019) have been filled with prequels and spinoffs on multiple platforms. To wit: The epilogue of ''II'' showed Sora, Riku and Kairu reading a mysterious letter from Mickey. After a remake of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' on the PlayStation 2, the subsequent mobile game ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Coded]]'' primely takes place before the epilogue and the content of the letter is eventually revealed but nothing more happens. Then we got the {{Interquel}} ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' on the Nintendo DS, the OriginsEpisode ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'' on the Playstation Portable (with only a brief flashforward of Sora, Riku and Kairi [[OffscreenInertia who still haven't left their island]] in the ending) ''and'' a port of ''Coded'' on the Nintendo DS (with only the addition of a conversation between Mickey and Yen-Sid). Finally, ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance [Dream Drop Distance] ]]'', a proper sequel to ''II'' and the "prologue" of ''III'' came out on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012... but it was then followed by ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', an episodic PrequelInTheLostAge and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage]]'' which instead follows Aqua's journey after ''Birth By Sleep''. Thankfully, the ending of that game directly leads to the long awaited ''Kingdom Hearts III''.

* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': Towards the end of Book 3, after learning that she's actually [[spoiler:a denizen of the train rather than a passenger, created by Amelia in an attempt to recreate her lost love Alrick]], and feeling betrayed by Grace, Hazel agrees to leave with Amelia and exits the plot. Book 4 goes on to serve as a prequel taking place in the 1980s, with its only narrative connection to previous installments being [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent Amelia taking over the train in the background]]. The show was cancelled after this, but even if it had continued, Book 5 was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned to be another prequel]], leaving Hazel's status unknown.