History Main / CreatorDrivenSuccessor

* ''Bloodstained'': Koji Igarashi created the series as a successor to ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' following his departure from Creator/{{Konami}} in response to their lack of interest in continuing the franchise. ''VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon'' harkens back to the early "Classicvania" games that feature level-to-level, linear platforming, while ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'' takes after the {{Metroidvania}} games that focus on non-linear exploration.

* ''Film/TaxiDriver'' (1976), ''Film/AmericanGigolo'' (1980) and ''Film/LightSleeper'' (1976). All written by Paul Schrader, all directed by him save for Taxi Driver, and all about turmoiled men navigating a sleazy urban setting in which they carve out a living, mostly a night(as a taxi driver, a male escort and a high-end drug dealer respectively). The three are considered a spritual trilogy of neo-noir classics(sometimes called the "God's Lonely Man" or "Lonely Man In A Room" trilogy) with their protagonists in different phases of life(20s, 30s, 40s) and numerous shared themes, tropes, actions and plot points.

** For further irony, the "reboot", ''VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry'', has combat and controls that owe more to developer Creator/{{Ninja Theory}}'s prior game: ''VideoGame/HeavenlySword''. Rather than earlier ''Devil May Cry'' titles. To the point that many fans jokingly called [=DmC=], ''Heavenly Sword 2''.

** Ironically, after ''Dark Souls'' achieved critical acclaim, decent sales, and a large amount of influence on the video game industry, Sony approached From and Miyazaki with an offer to make a game together again, but rather than produce a sequel to ''Demon's Souls'', they chose to make yet another Creator-Driven Successor, ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''.

** ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team at Creator/FromSoftware wanted to create a follow up to their CultClassic ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', but publisher {{Creator/Sony|InteractiveEntertainment}} felt that its sales were too low to greenlight a sequel. Thus, he went over to Creator/BandaiNamco and created his successor under a slightly different name.

** ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', in terms of game mechanics, is a successor/sequel to ''VideoGame/Goldeneye1997'', but without the James Bond license, which developer Creator/{{Rare}} didn't renew due to being outbid by Creator/ElectronicArts, and because they wanted to pursue different creative ideas such as a female protagonist and a science-fiction setting.

* ''Film/WhereHandsTouch'': This is now the third film from director Amma Asante to focus on a historical interracial love story (though this one is fictional, unlike the ''Film/{{Belle}}'' and ''Film/AUnitedKingdom'').

** ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team at Creator/FromSoftware wanted to create a follow up to their CultClassic ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', but publisher Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment felt that its sales were too low to greenlight a sequel. Thus, he went over to Creator/BandaiNamco and created his successor under a slightly different name.

* ''Music/AngusMcSix'' definitely continues the adventures of the lead singer's character Angus [=McFife=] from ''Music/{{Gloryhammer}}'', just without directly saying so using probably copyrighted names. Thus, we have Prince Angus coming back as Angus [[PunnyName McSix]], without stating that he used to be Angus [=McFife=]. He doesn't mention having owned the Hammer of Glory but sings "Glory left my hammer." And the background story says that, before encountering the new BigBad, he was expecting to fight his old enemy (without saying it was Zargothrax). Secondly, the tone of the new band is basically the same as Gloryhammer's, ie. gleefully outrageous parody of PowerMetal.

* Monsignor Creator/HughBenson made his name with his Catholic End-Times novel ''Literature/LordOfTheWorld'', which was so dystopian that it depressed a lot of readers. Eventually enough of them wrote to him about this that he placated them by writing another End-Times novel with a different interpretation—that Christianity will become more dominant the closer the world gets to ending, instead of less. This book is ''Literature/TheDawnOfAll'', which ends with [[spoiler:it being all just a dream, because the writer truly believed the premise went against what the Bible teaches]].

* The fundraising campaign for ''VideoGame/PennyBlood'' boasts that it's being headlined by Matsuzo Machida, one of the creative minds behind the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series. Similarly to that series, the game is a gothic RPG set in a LovecrafCountry AlternateHistory of real life. Its main character, a private detective investigating paranormal incidents in the wake of the first World War, shares ''Shadow Hearts'' protagonist Yuri's main trait of having a powerful EnemyWithin that he needs to fight back against the otherworldly horrors but threatens to consume him if not maintained.

* The movies Music/{{Eminem}} has been involved in are spiritually linked but have different characters and subject matter. ''Film/EightMile'' is based on his life, featuring a young white rapper struggling in Detroit's battle scene. ''Film/{{Southpaw}}'' is also based on Eminem's life, but as it was later, as a fading superstar struggling to overcome a prescription pill addiction, and changes the setting from music to boxing. ''Film/{{Bodied}}'' is another rap battle movie about a white rapper, but the protagonist has little in common with Eminem beyond race and is something of a DenserAndWackier version of ''8 Mile'', focusing on themes of freedom of censorship, CulturalCringe, and [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy white involvement in Black culture]] that are themes of Eminem's best-loved music.

* The movies Music/{{Eminem}} has been involved in are spiritually linked but have different characters and subject matter. ''Film/EightMile'' is based on his life, featuring a young white rapper struggling in Detroit's battle scene. ''Film/{{Southpaw}}'' is also based on Eminem's life, but as it was later, as a fading superstar struggling to overcome a prescription pill addiction, and changes the setting from music to boxing. ''Film/{{Bodied}}'' is another rap battle movie about a white rapper, but the protagonist has little in common with Eminem beyond race and is something of a DenserAndWackier version of ''8 Mile'', focusing on themes of freedom of obscene speech and [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy cringey white appropriation of Black culture]] that are themes of his best-loved work.

* ''[[Film/Taxi Driver]]''(1976), ''[[Film/American Gigolo]]''(1980) and ''[[Film/Light Sleeper]]''(1976). All written by Paul Schrader, all directed by him save for Taxi Driver, and all about turmoiled men navigating a sleazy urban setting in which they carve out a living, mostly a night(as a taxi driver, a male escort and a high-end drug dealer respectively). The three are considered a spritual trilogy of neo-noir classics(sometimes called the "God's Lonely Man" or "Lonely Man In A Room" trilogy) with their protagonists in different phases of life(20s, 30s, 40s) and numerous shared themes, tropes, actions and plot points.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bodycount}}'' is widely considered this to ''VideoGame/{{Black}}'', but as is often the case this does require an asterisk. While the project lead of ''Bodycount'' was the co-lead of ''Black'' (and also happened to be named Black, further cementing the association), by his own admission he was primarily responsible for the game's foundational structure rather than how it played, and also left ''Bodycount'' midway through development due to its TroubledProduction, being listed in the credits only under "special thanks". Besides him, the major overlaps in the dev teams for ''Bodycount'' and ''Black'' seem to be the graphics programmer and the two A.I. programmers, rather than anyone associated with level design or gameplay.

* ''VideoGame/Back4Blood'' was heavily advertised as this, often with tagline "by the creators of ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'', both being CoOpMultiplayer zombie shooters with emphasis on teamwork and procedural level design honed by an AI "Game Director". Both ''Left 4 Dead'' and ''Back 4 Blood'' were created by the same studio, first as indie studio Turtle Rock Studios before ''Left 4 Dead'' was picked up by Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}} as a parent company/publisher that rechristened them "Valve South", though after the release of ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'', they split with Valve retaining the ''Left 4 Dead'' IP, returning to Turtle Rock and producing ''Back 4 Blood'' as themselves.

* ''Manga/NewGame'', Creator/ShotaroTokuno's previous manga, was published in Magazine/MangaTimeKirara (which is best known for its ''{{iyashikei}}'' works), yet it got some flack for having ''iyashikei''-unfriendly story arcs where ''{{moe}}'' girls are pitted against each other in competition and have to suffer emotional losses. His next series, ''Manga/IdolXIdolStory'', moves away from the ''Kirara'' brand and on to ''Comic Fuz'', another Hobunsha AnthologyComic, with a premise that is '''nothing but''' ''moe'' girls being pitted against each other and forced to suffer emotional losses.