History Main / FranchiseZombie

* Gregory Mcdonald had intended to end the ''Literature/{{Fletch}}'' series at 1986's ''Fletch. Too'' which is even described as the final installment in the inside cover. However, he would relent and write two further novels in the 90's co-starring Fletch's illegitimate son, after which the series would end for real. When asked about his feelings about this trope in a 2002 interview, Mcdonald would state the following:

[[folder:Video Games]]
%%* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' has been a zombie since EA disbanded Westwood.
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** The ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series [[SeriesFauxnale was supposed to end]] with ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX5 X5]]'', and then progress to the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series in the future. However, the series continued without Creator/KeijiInafune's knowledge into ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX6 X6]]'', and his only input afterwards was ''[[VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX Maverick Hunter X]]'' and minor designer's advice regarding [[VideoGame/MegaManX7 Axl]]. [[note]]In fact, it got to the point that when Capcom proposed ''[[VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission Command Mission]]'', he adamantly refused.[[/note]] This was somewhat difficult plot-wise, as ''X5'' ended with Zero [[spoiler:dead. In fairness, ''Mega Man Zero'' would have had to answer that particular red flag itself to even be a thing, but WordOfGod states Inafune had to alter at least some of his initial plans to accomodate ''X6'']]. ''X6'' then ended with him in the capsule not supposed to be opened until ''Mega Man Zero'' making his [[ContinuitySnarl appearances in the next two games awkward]]. Players were then told to think of the scene in ''X6'' as a [[DistantFinale bonus ending for the series]], rather than something happening directly after the game.
** The ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series were each supposed to end after three games each, but ''Battle Network'' lasted for three more games, and ''Zero'' for one more. You can see that the endings of the third game of each series were meant as the end of each. ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero4 Zero 4]]'' manages to work with this due to the BigBad still being around at the end of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero3 Zero 3]]'', so the final game was dedicated to solving that little hiccup and setting up the next SequelSeries to prevent this from happening again.
* Both ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' and ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' were the products of friend developers Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, as mascot platformers for the original [=PlayStation=]. Both then split off from Universal Interactive Studios for different reasons (Naughty Dog's contract with Universal ran out, while Insomniac was unpleased with the limitations of Spyro's character designs and walked off on their own) and moved onto different styles of games (''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' and ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank''), leaving their old mascots to their owner (Universal, but eventually Creator/{{Activision}} as a result of several corporate acquisitions and mergers) who then ran both of them into the ground with a wide variety of games of variable quality, with the ''Crash'' series eventually undergoing a long hiatus and Spyro being retooled into a part of the ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' franchise. However, both series were given a total {{revival}} in the late-2010's, with remakes and new games that were beloved by critics and fans alike, and sold extremely well.
* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' has become this as a result of ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarryMagnaCumLaude'', released in 2004 for the PC, [=PS2=], and Xbox. It was created without any input from series creator Al Lowe and he criticizes the game on his website. The sequel, ''Box Office Bust'' (at which point the franchise isn't in the property of Activision anymore because it didn't print money), has received even further drubbing from critics.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' became this after the [[UsefulNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 16-bit era]]. After the series hit its peak with ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', Sonic Team, burned out on their namesake series, focused on making original titles. Meanwhile, Sega, not willing to retire their cash cow, tried to continue the ''Sonic'' franchise without them to no success. After Sega Technical Institute's[[note]]Who made ''VideoGame/ComixZone'' for the Genesis[[/note]] ''VideoGame/SonicXtreme'' -- Sonic's intended VideoGame3DLeap on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn -- [[{{Vaporware}} failed to make it to shelves]], Sega finally got Sonic Team back to give the series [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure a proper 3D title]] for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast. Even then, ''Sonic Adventure'' (which had Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima on board) was the last game with any of Sonic's creators working directly on a ''Sonic'' game. Ohshima left Sega after ''Sonic Adventure'' finished development in 1998 to form Creator/{{Artoon}} for unknown reasons. Yasuhara didn't participate in ''Sonic Adventure'' because he had quit Sonic Team after ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'', ultimately leaving Sega for Creator/NaughtyDog in 2002. Naka himself left Sega in 2006 to form Prope as he was tired of [[KickedUpstairs being stuck with (executive) producer roles]] for original [=IPs=] made by Sonic Team. The series sticks around as it is one of Sega's few remaining [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], but it has had wild ups and downs since then. (Notably, the best received game in the series, ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', was not made by Sonic Team but is essentially a FanRemake compilation of the previous games of the series.)
* ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'' was never supposed to have a sequel, [[WriterRevolt according to the creator of the original game]]. The sequel lampshades this by essentially making the plot about the King Of All Cosmos gaining tons of fans due to the success of the first game and deciding to solve their various problems to become even more popular.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** Creator/HideoKojima originally didn't intend to direct any ''Metal Gear'' sequels beyond ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', but due to the immense success of the game, he was pressured by his superiors to direct ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'', which featured a [[GainaxEnding twist ending]] that he never intended to explain away. Afterward, he wrote the basic outline for ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}'', with the intention of handing it out to another director, but no one was willing to take the job. The same thing happened with ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'': although he had already named a successor, fans demanded that he return to personally direct the game (which included death threats). And as the entry on WriterRevolt for that game shows, he didn't take it nicely. And the series is ''still going on''.
** He also didn't intend to make a sequel for the original ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear|1}}'' but a coworker who developed ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge'' convinced him to make a real one. According to Kojima, by the time they reached their stop, he'd already had the entire plot of the canonical ''Metal Gear 2'' mapped out in his head.
** As of 2015, Konami announced that Kojima would be leaving the company for good after ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'', yet they say they wish to make further ''Metal Gear'' games. Kojima's response was to create a controversial moment in the final chapter that both altered the canon of the original game and was also a cop-out to the epic finale that fans were clamoring for. It's also a symbolic representation of how ''Metal Gear'' had a fair chance of continuing past its Kojima finale, but that you'd have to settle for something less than Kojima. Unintentionally symbolic is that the first ''Metal Gear'' title after Kojima's departure is a [[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive spinoff title about zombies]].
* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' was briefly this. Sony and Singletrac split up after ''Twisted Metal 2'', resulting in Sony owning the ''Twisted Metal'' name but Singletrac owning the engine. As a result, Sony had NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup, and the third and fourth games received [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks relatively poor reviews]]. Luckily, former Singletrac employees founded Incog Inc. (and later Eat Sleep Play) and Sony handed them back the series from ''Twisted Metal Black'' onwards.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Rumors suggest the franchise was only intended to consist of two games, but scheduling issues forced Creator/{{Bungie}} to release the original ''Halo 2'' in a semi-complete state (only about 3/4 done). Then ''VideoGame/Halo3'' was billed as the big finale of the series, but was followed by the GaidenGame ''[[VideoGame/Halo3ODST ODST]]'' and the prequel ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' (plus the RTS spin-off ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', a DolledUpInstallment made by another studio, [[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-27-halo-wars-bungie-saw-it-as-whoring-out-franchise-says-ensemble-founder to Bungie's disapproval]]). Bungie jumped ship and left the series with Microsoft subsidiary Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries' hands who then [[TrilogyCreep started a new "saga" of FPS games]] with ''VideoGame/Halo4''. Guess the fight wasn't quite finished yet, huh? That the IP was not only given to a company that was set up for the express purpose of creating new ''Halo'' games, but is even named after a character in the series, has inevitably lead to claims from people that they are little more then a "franchise farm" for the series.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' had a brief go at this. The original developers had long since moved on to other projects, and they actually retained rights to all the creative content apart from the name "Star Control". The publisher wanted another game out in the series, even if it lacked any familiar content that would tie it in with the previous games. In the end, the developers gave in, figuring that it was the lesser evil for the series. The game was actually made by completely different people, though. Oh, and there was a novel too, which most people prefer to forget about.
* Creator/GunpeiYokoi intended for ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' to end with ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' in order to have a neat, contained trilogy. After his death, the franchise was revived in 2002 with ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', and new games have come out at a steady pace ever since. These games were all fairly well-received (other than ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce Federation Force]]''). ''Metroid Prime'' specifically was hailed by most as a worthy successor to ''Super'', with some going as far as naming it as one of the greatest games of all time.
* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' is an interesting example as it turned into a zombie but was able to remain competitive with its SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/RockBand'', as well. After Harmonix and Activision parted ways following ''Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s'', the series reins were given to ''Tony Hawk'' developer Neversoft (whose first entry was ''Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock'') and Harmonix moved on to MTV Games in order to begin producing the ''Rock Band'' series. ''Guitar Hero'' and ''Rock Band'' would remain DuelingGames for three years until 2010, when ''Warriors of Rock'' finally saw Activision shelve any future projects in the series... for five years until they announced ''Guitar Hero Live'' in order to compete with Harmonix's ''Rock Band 4''.
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' started to show signs of this after ''A Crack in Time'', which is regarded as one of the best games in the franchise, released. The following sequels, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankAll4One All 4 One]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFullFrontalAssault Full Frontal Assult]]'', were disliked by fans as they noticeably had weaker stories and were DenserAndWackier in tone, focusing on [[UnexpectedGameplayChange gimmicks instead of the usual third-person shooter]] gameplay, and [[ArtEvolution redesigning most of the main cast]].
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara stated that ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' were intended to be the final games, and declared that "once we entered the twenty-first century, it would be time for me to do something else entirely." [[CashCowFranchise Oodles of cash]] must have changed his mind, as the series has continued since with no signs of stopping.
* Upon its release in 1995, ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' turned out as the biggest success for developer Team 17, [[CashCowFranchise which keeps riding on it to this day]]: little of their production since hasn't been related to the ''Worms'' franchise, which has currently overly 20 titles between main episodes, expansions and spin-offs on various platforms. Unfortunately, most if not all the episodes after the earlier ones (''especially'' [[PolygonCeiling the 3D ones]]) haven't been as good, not even 2012's ''Worms Revolution'' which was intended as a return to form. It is telling that ''Worms Armageddon'' is still considered the best episode despite releasing at the TurnOfTheMillennium.
* Various interviews from developers at Creator/CoreDesign have shown that the first four ''Franchise/TombRaider'' games were genuine attempts to improve on each entry, whether they could be considered to have succeeded or not; however, the [[ItWasHisSled "Lara dies"]] twist at the end of ''VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation'' was a serious attempt to either finish the series or buy time for a next-gen debut. But then they were talked into developing ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'', a game where Lara's closest friends reminisce about Lara's previously unseen adventures, as an easy moneygrab; and being distracted by that quite possibly had a small part in the failure of ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderTheAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]''. Of course, it managed to recover after the franchise moved over to Crystal Dynamics' hands and [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]].
* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series eventually became this for Creator/MasahiroSakurai. Originally a side project featuring completely original characters, Sakurai's boss Creator/SatoruIwata suggested that he put Creator/{{Nintendo}} characters into the game. The game became an international hit, but Sakurai felt that more could be done with the game, so the sequel ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' was developed with a much more lavish budget (despite being developed in 13 months). Shortly after the completion of ''Melee'' as well as ''VideoGame/KirbyAirRide'', given that Sakurai is also the creator of the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' video game series, he departed from HAL to form his own studio, Sora Ltd. stating that he was dissatisfied with the "sequel process" at HAL and the gaming industry in general. Eventually, though, he made two more ''Smash'' games while at Sora in spite of this. He later came out and said that every ''Smash'' game past [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 the original]] was developed under the expectation that he wouldn't make any more ''Smash'' games, and that he no longer has any desire to make any more past ''Smash 4''. [[FlipFlopOfGod He then made]] ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', and later stated that he would keep working on the series for as long as Nintendo wanted him to. (And, considering it's one of the company's biggest {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s, it's hard to imagine they ever wouldn't.) Sakurai is also [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld no longer involved]] in the creation of newer ''Kirby'' games. Note that though ''Kirby'' is technically a franchise zombie, it lacks all the negative aspects of Franchise Zombie as many of the newer ''Kirby'' games are [[MyRealDaddy as good or better than the older games]] to longtime fans of the series.
* ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'' went dormant after the third game, which was released in 2004. After the second game, the lead developer, Chris Sawyer, handed control of the IP to Creator/{{Atari}}. In 2012, Atari decided to dust off the franchise and release a number of below average to very poor games under its name. Among these title included a 3DS spinoff with stripped down features, two separate microtransaction-heavy {{Freemium}} mobile games (the first one, the confusingly titled ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon 4 Mobile'', ''initially had a price tag''), a match-3 mobile game, and a VR rail shooter for some reason. The most infamous releases of the series are ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon World'', a game which jumped between three development teams and was rushed to release a day before its (much more well-recieved) competitor, ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster'', [[ObviousBeta with predictable results]], and ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon Adventures'', an investor-driven title for the Nintendo Switch where Atari directly asked people to invest in the development of the game for an opportunity to receive a share of its sales, with the end product being an extremely low-effort port of a mobile game that was a port of ''World'', with no indication if any of the investors got their money's worth. The only releases that were met with positive reception were ports of the first three games, and with such a terrible track record of new games, it seems that Atari is only using the series name as a shameless CashCowFranchise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* The ''Stab'' series, the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional film franchise]] that serves as an analogue to ''Film/{{Scream}}'' within its universe. The first ''Stab'' was [[RippedFromTheHeadlines a fictionalized version]] of the events of the first ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', and it's implied that ''Stab 2'' (which is never seen) was based on the events of ''Film/{{Scream 2}}''. However, after ''Film/Scream3'', which saw ''Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro'' experience a violently TroubledProduction, [[FinalGirl Sidney Prescott]] sued the producers of ''Stab'' to prevent any further use of the characters. Unfazed, they continued on anyway with a new cast, and by ''Film/Scream4'' there have been seven ''Stab'' films of declining quality, the series having dropped all pretense of being BasedOnATrueStory; by the fifth film, they were throwing in TimeTravel. ''Film/Scream2022'' reveals the eighth ''Stab'' tried something different, but the results (which included Ghostface with a flamethrower!) wound up massively disliked. [[spoiler:To the point the killers are {{Loony Fan}}s slicing up Woodsboro so their killing spree can inspire a ''Stab'' movie hewing closer to the old ones.]]
* ''Film/TropicThunder'': The ''Scorcher'' action film series, starring [[Creator/BenStiller Tugg Speedman]]. Once a top box office but now a commercial and critical failure.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': In 2015, there's ''JustForFun/Jaws19'' ("This time, it's really REALLY personal"). [[SpecialEffectsFailure Shark still looks fake, though]].
* ''Film/TwentyTwoJumpStreet'' parodies this in the end {{credits gag}} which features increasingly bizarre sequel ideas, from ''23 Jump Street: Med School'' to ''29 Jump Street: Sunday School'' (in which Jonah Hill leaves and is replaced by Seth Rogen) to ''2121 Jump Street'' (RecycledInSpace).
* A newscast seen within ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' promises a review of ''Rocky 5000''. While ''Spaceballs'' never quite establishes whether it's in the future or "a long time ago," it's a safe bet that 5000 movies in, the original creators are no longer the ones in charge.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' certainly fits the bill. Going from [[Film/{{Highlander}} a cult classic film]] with a self-contained ending (the writers wriggled out this one by simply retconning everything), to a series of awesomely terrible sequels, TV spinoffs, cartoons and video games. One might argue that it was the least desired "franchise" of all time. A lot of mixed feelings toward Bill Panzer, the producer of ''Highlander'' who died in 2007. On the one hand, ''Highlander'' was definitely his baby: Panzer was very active in the ''Highlander'' fan circuit, and even appears in the DVD featurettes while revisiting old shooting locations from the TV show. The man clearly cared a lot about the ''Highlander'' 'verse and wanted it to succeed. On the other hand, his zeal in pushing for more, more, '''more''' ''Highlander'' was likely motivated by profit. By the time ''Film/HighlanderTheSource'' came around, all artistic merit had been drained from the series and nobody had a clue how to prolong the story. There's some hope that the ContinuityReboot starring Creator/HenryCavill can infuse some merit in the live-action corner of the franchise again.
* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''. ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'' ends with an EarthShatteringKaboom that would [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun prevent further sequels]]. Creator/CharltonHeston specifically requested this ending so he wouldn't have to do any more movies (he made two brief appearances in the sequel primarily as a "thank you" to 20th Century Fox). The third, ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'', uses time travel to continue in the present day instead of AfterTheEnd, and had an ending that was originally only envisioned as a connection to the original movie instead of a SequelHook... but it then led to two more sequels (with [[Film/BattleForThePlanetOfTheApes the fifth]] being the [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1169126_9,00.html absolute worst]]). And to make matters worse, the studio slashed the budget for every new movie! Only after the fifth movie bombed did Fox finally consent to RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain, so to speak. Of course, that didn't stop the franchise from continuing on TV (and eventually, returning to theaters with [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 a remake]], and then a reboot trilogy loosely based on ''Conquest'' and ''Battle'' but much better received).
* Creator/FrancisFordCoppola had no intention of making any sequels to ''Film/TheGodfather''. It's typically said that the only reason he made ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'' was to get the funding to make ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', which led to further executive pressure and a ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'' as well (hence the often-quoted line "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."). ''Part III'' in particular was not even intended to be a direct sequel--Coppola is on record for saying the film--which was originally titled ''The Death of Michael Corleone''--was intended to be an epilogue to the first two films, as opposed to being a third ''Godfather'' installment.
* The sixth entry in ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' franchise, ''Film/RevengeOfThePinkPanther'', was essentially commissioned by Creator/UnitedArtists just to have a big film for summer 1978. By the time it was done, the long-strained working relationship between Creator/PeterSellers (Inspector Clouseau) and Creator/BlakeEdwards (writer-director) had snapped. Sellers planned a continuation he could put his heart into with ''Romance of the Pink Panther'', which he was co-scripting and Edwards was paid ''not'' to participate in, but the project died along with Sellers in 1980. Edwards decided to continue the series himself with a ReplacementScrappy character in ''Film/CurseOfThePinkPanther'', which flopped instantly and led to the original franchise's [[FranchiseKiller death]]...
* ZAZ has made it quite clear that they had no part or interest in the ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' sequel (in the first one's DVD commentary, they admit they've never even ''seen'' it), thinking that all of the good ideas had been used. Indeed, half the jokes in [[Film/AirplaneIITheSequel the sequel]] were recycled from the first film.
* When his father died suddenly in 1956, Leo Gorcey decided he could no longer continue with the ''Bowery Boys'' movie series. (His father Bernard Gorcey played sweet shop owner Louie Dumbrowski in those movies.) The fact that Gorcey had top billing in the movies didn't prevent Republic from continuing the series, replacing Gorcey with Stanley Clements. The series limped along with seven flat movies before ending two years later.
* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''
** Creator/JohnCarpenter, in a 1982 interview, stated that Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis both died at the end of ''Film/HalloweenII1981'' and that he intended to make the series into an anthology "like ''The Twilight Zone'' but on a larger scale." After the financial flop of ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'', Carpenter opted out of doing any more and signed away the rights to producer Moustapha Akkad, who quickly revived the original formula. Michael Myers went on to appear in five more films after his canon death, not counting the remakes.
** Music/RobZombie expressed disappointment at the studio's initial plans to resurrect Michael for a third remake film, despite his insistence that his ''Film/{{Halloween II|2009}}'' was the end of the franchise. In Rob's case, it ended up being a zigzagged trope, as although another ''Film/{{Halloween|2018}}'' was eventually greenlit, it's an [[{{Unreboot}} alternate sequel to the original film]], with no connection to the remakes.
* Creator/WesCraven wanted ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' to be a single movie. Then when he returned to co-write [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors the third film]], he wanted that to be the last.
* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' had three unremarkable sequels. The book's author Peter Benchley and Creator/StevenSpielberg had nothing to do with them (Benchley traded the potential sequel rights -- "I don't care about sequels; who'll ever want to make a sequel to a movie about a fish?" -- for cash payments; and Spielberg stated that "[[{{Sequelitis}} making a sequel to anything is just a cheap carny trick]]", though Spielberg later admitted that he could have done ''Film/{{Jaws 2}}'' if he [[TroubledProduction hadn't had a horrible time with the first]]). One article even said ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'' StoppedNumberingSequels because [[http://lebeauleblog.com/2015/09/06/franchise-killers-jaws-the-revenge/ "the studio wanted to hide the fact that ''Jaws: The Revenge'' was the fourth film in a franchise that never needed a second film."]]
* ''Film/LethalWeapon4'' was made six years after the previous installment mainly because Warner Brothers was running into financial trouble and the series was just about the only CashCowFranchise it could count on to deliver a good box office return up until the smashing success of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''. For its own credit, the film is a rare case of divisiveness approach instead of typical FanonDiscontinuity.
* An example regarding only the main actor: Creator/RogerMoore wanted to stop playing Film/JamesBond after ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', because it was getting embarrassing at his age to be shown with such young women (In [[Film/AViewToAKill his final appearance as Bond]], he was older than the ''mother'' of the actress who played the primary Bond Girl), but Creator/UnitedArtists kept dragging him back for one more.
* ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'' was such a success that Creator/IrwinAllen decided it had to have a sequel, and commissioned the original book's author Paul Gallico to write a follow-up, even if it followed the movie's continuity due to a massive ending change (the novel has the ''Poseidon'' sinking, while the film ends with the ship capsized but still afloat). He [[DiedDuringProduction died writing it]], two years before ''Beyond the Poseidon Adventure'' hit book stores, and one prior to the badly received movie adaptation.
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'':
** Creator/JamesWan and Leigh Whannell wanted to end the series with the [[Film/SawIII third film]], closing the book on Jigsaw and Amanda by killing both of them off. However, with the first two films having been massive hits, producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules viewed the series as Creator/{{Lionsgate}}'s first FlagshipFranchise, and [[ExecutiveMeddling forced Whannell and the writers to make numerous changes to the film]] in order to leave the door open for further installments. Indeed, there were five more films planned afterwards, with a new killer taking up the Jigsaw mantle and Wan and Whannell only staying on as executive producers with no creative input. While these films [[StarTrekMovieCurse vary between positive and negative general reception]], most fans view them overall as a step down from the first three, and had lower box office results after the third film's peak. The diminishing revenue of ''Film/SawVI'' led to the producers combining the last two planned films into one, resulting in the production and release of the original finale ''Film/Saw3D'', which had a much better revenue.
** This became [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] later on when ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'', which had a completely new production team, came out later, seeking to relaunch to franchise. Although no direct follow-up to it has been made yet, it left door for another film, ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'', whose reception was arguably at the same level as the first three films.
* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series was intended to end with ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', which conclusively finished off any chance of [[AIIsACrapshoot Skynet]] being brought into existence. Creator/JamesCameron had interest in continuing, but no concrete ideas as he got busy with ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' and the producers of ''[=T2=]'' bought the franchise rights to make a third movie without him. ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' was one hell of a ContestedSequel, and yet made enough money to get people interested in making more - which unfortunadely wasn't the case with the follow-ups ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', and lastly ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', all [[BoxOfficeBomb underperforming enough to kill planned sequels]] (and the last one, being the first to get Cameron's input as writer and producer, was [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight supposed]] to finally get things back on track, only to be a FranchiseKiller instead).
* While Creator/GeorgeLucas did envision ''Franchise/StarWars'' as a nine-part saga at a certain point, he eventually settled for just six with the prequels giving the original trilogy a conclusive thematic endpoint. Then Disney bought Lucasfilm specifically to create a sequel trilogy.
* Clive Barker signed the ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'' [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld story and character rights to the production company]] before [[Film/{{Hellraiser}} the first film]], not realizing what a great success it would be. ''Film/HellboundHellraiserII'' still followed a story Barker wrote. The five follow-ups, not at all, and Barker even got mad at seeing his name being used to market the AshCanCopy ''Film/HellraiserRevelations''.
* The ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' franchise was never originally intended to be so. Only after the incredible success of [[Film/JurassicPark the first film]], was it turned into a series (see the Literature folder). The number of film adaptations (five and counting) now greatly outnumbers the books they're based on, outlived [[Creator/MichaelCrichton the original author]], and deviate greatly from them in numerous aspects, while still picking out bits and pieces to use as scenes in each movie at random. None of the movie sequels are considered as good as the original film, with general reception ranging from passable but still inferior for the [[Film/JurassicWorld fourth film]], mixed opinions for the [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark second]] and [[Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom fifth]] entries, to just plain bad for the [[Film/JurassicParkIII third one]] (which was a FranchiseKiller until the series was rebooted fourteen years later). Not helping this is the perceived devolution from trying to portray the dinosaurs as semi-realistic animals and keeping the science grounded, to just another generic action blockbuster that depicts the dinosaurs as plot-convenient movie monsters.
* ''Film/AirBud'' is a memorable family basketball comedy about a dog that just wants to play basketball. It also had a pretty good sequel that came out the following year. Every sequel after that is direct-to-video and just has Buddy taking on yet another sport. Worse yet is the ''Air Buddies'' spinoff series starring Buddy's TalkingAnimal offspring. They have not only replaced the ''Buddy'' character entirely, but with seven different films, it's very clear it's nothing but another cash-grab series. The spinoff series even has a spinoff of its own in the form of the ''Santa Paws'' films.
* There were more than twice as many ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films after the one subtitled ''[[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter The Final Chapter]]'' (the fourth film in the franchise) than there were before it, such that it has become the butt of many jokes about {{sequelitis}} in the horror genre, many lampooning the fact that, from [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives the sixth film]] onward, they literally brought Jason back as a RevenantZombie. That said, the general consensus among fans is that, while the movies varied in quality before then, ''Friday''[='=]s zombie period really started when Creator/NewLineCinema bought the rights to the franchise after it was [[FranchiseKiller killed]] by the eighth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan Jason Takes Manhattan]]'', having done so entirely to make a {{crossover}} with ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''. During the DevelopmentHell of what would become ''Film/FreddyVsJason'', New Line released two standalone ''Friday'' films; the first one, ''Film/JasonGoesToHellTheFinalFriday'', is regarded as an InNameOnly sequel and one of the worst films in the series, while the second one, ''Film/JasonX'', is more a parody of the franchise than a serious continuation.
* The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films were intended to be concluded with the 1968 MonsterMash ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', set in the far future ([[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture of 1999]]), where the kaiju BigBad King Ghidorah is finally killed and the monsters are all allowed to live out their days in peace. However, the box office success of the film led to a string of sequels ([[{{Interquel}} chronologically set before]] ''Destroy All Monsters'') generally considered to be of significantly lower quality, even among the campy Showa Era films, beginning with the almost universally reviled ''Film/AllMonstersAttack'', and the very wacky ''Film/GodzillaVsHedorah'', ''Film/GodzillaVsGigan'', and ''Film/GodzillaVsMegalon'', although the last two films of the Showa Era, ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzilla'' and ''Film/TerrorOfMechagodzilla'' are considered to be a little better, particularly due to the introduction of the popular villain Mechagodzilla. And of course we know the franchise didn't even stop there, and now ''Destroy All Monsters'' only represents the ''quarter-mark'' in the series.
* Creator/DavidCronenberg only ever intended ''Film/{{Scanners}}'' to be a single film (and it's amazing that film even saw the light of day, given its TroubledProduction). Christian Duguay took over and made ''Film/ScannersIITheNewOrder'' and ''Film/ScannersIIITheTakeover'' about a decade later. The protagonist of ''2'' is apparently the son of the protagonist of the first film, but that's where the connection ends; the third film onwards feature entirely unrelated characters. This spawned yet another duo of spinoff movies, ''Film/ScannerCop'' and ''Film/ScannerCopII''. Exploding heads and dueling telepaths are clearly just too awesome not to milk it for all it's worth.
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' suffered from this. After the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Sony wanted a fourth movie made specifically [[AshCanCopy to keep the rights from reverting to Marvel Studios]], but director Creator/SamRaimi left because he felt he wasn't given enough time to make the movie he wanted. So Sony opted for a full ContinuityReboot, ''and'' used it as a launchpad for obvious attempts to copy the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's formula for a ModularFranchise with the small selection of ''Spider-Man''-related material that they have the rights to. But with diminishing returns for the franchise and a few reviews for ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' essentially using "franchise fatigue" to refer to this very trope, Sony eventually decided to cut the ''Amazing'' series short and instead strike a deal with Marvel to have Spider-Man join the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself. (Though they're still trying to launch a [[Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse separate Spider-Man-based franchise]], starting with ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'', initially without the actual Spider-Man.)
[[/folder]]

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has this as a major late-game reveal: [[spoiler:within the world of ''Danganronpa V3'', the previous installments in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' franchise were the first of a ''very'' long series which transitioned from completely fictional to using real people with their memories manipulated. It turns out that ''V3'' is a stylistic way of writing "53", with the current installment being the fifty-third in the franchise. The endgame boils down to stopping this from going on any longer than it already has]].

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' ran for twenty years and maintained a fairly consistent groove throughout, thanks to a revolving cast and keeping the focus off -- for the most part -- its characters. The wheels finally started to come off when several cast members all left at once, and Sam Waterston's ADA was finally promoted to DA. The new cast didn't gel like the old cops and lawyers, and the show ended in 2010. Producer Dick Wolf has said in interviews that his intent was to make L&O run longer than ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'', but he later conceded that the series had "moved onto the history books". His other ''L & O'' series, ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', also receives cries of this and for similar reasons.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' became one of these after season seven, when the original writers left and the name becomes an ArtifactTitle.
* The 90's sitcom ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' was this. Lasting from 1996 to 2003, the series lasted beyond Sabrina's teenage years, and spun off two animated shows. [[WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries The first animated series]] generally gets some sympathy, but the second does not.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' creator Haim Saban considers the Disney era of his franchise (''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' to ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'') to be a personal zombie period to him, saying in his own words that "Disney did not develop the property and exploit it in the way that it deserves." Showrunner Jonathan Tzachor deems only ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' to ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' as "counting", but then again, Jonathan's concept of canonicity is strange. [[note]] To clarify, Jonathan considers each season to be in its own continuity[[/note]].
* Reportedly, Chris Carter wanted to end ''Series/TheXFiles'' after the sixth or seventh season, but had to stick around with it because Fox threatened to keep making it, with or without him. This didn't stop him from making another movie years after the series had ended, and two miniseries years after that.
* Norman Lear planned to end ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' after Season 8, with Mike and Gloria moving to California (thereby eliminating the intrafamilial conflict that was the heart of the show). But CBS ended up dangling a huge salary increase and production deal to Carroll O'Connor, and the show not only limped along for another season (without Lear), but was {{retool}}ed as ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which itself lasted four seasons.
* Creator/JohnCleese was reportedly frustrated about the later seasons of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', as he felt they had used up all of their original ideas, but the rest of the team carried on for a single season of the show, which was renamed ''Monty Python''.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' is considered to have become this after the departure of Creator/SteveCarell, which led to Michael Scott, ''the boss of the office'', being written out of the show. The series continued for two more seasons without its main character.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' creator Creator/BillLawrence wanted to end the series several times, but was forced to keep going.
** The first time this happened was after Season 6. In an example of [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]] this meant the show shrugged off what would have been a quite depressing ending for JD and Elliot into a much better Season 7 & 8, rebuilding their relationship and fixing it for good, complete with a fairytale GrandFinale as the final episode of Season 8.
** Then instead of doing a proper SpinOff, the executives kept the show as "Scrubs" for Season 9 despite a massive change of setting and major cast changes. Any executive with a brain would have distanced the SpinOff more from the original, but they refused, and the "Med School" PostScriptSeason was hated by the fanbase for ruining the show, many refused to watch it entirely and the show was finally cancelled.
* The show ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' started to become this as the creator always seemed to announce that the current season would be the last, only for Showtime to renew it midway through that season.
* ''Series/AnneOfGreenGables'' falls into this category. As he describes in the DVD featurette "Kevin Sullivan's Classic", producer/writer/director Kevin Sullivan only intended to do one mini-series adapting the original novel in 1985. Afterwards, the network pressured him to make a sequel, though he chose to only loosely adapt some later Anne novels rather than pick one for a close adaptation. Afterwards, demand remained high so inspired by a short story collection by LM Montgomery he created the long-running series ''Road to Avonlea''. In 2000, more than a decade after the second mini-series, he reassembled the original cast for a wholly original, DarkerAndEdgier sequel set during World War I (completely messing up the continuity of both the first two movies and books). Sullivan couldn't let Anne rest, however, and brought her back in a near-fantasy animated reimagining, ''Anne: Journey to Green Gables'' in 2005 (which added a Disney-like villain to the story), and in 2008 he produced a live-action movie ''A New Beginning'', now set in World War II as a middle-aged Anne reflects on her life before the events of the first movie. Fortunately, except for the animated film which has fallen into obscurity, the frequent revisits to Avonlea to Sullivan's credit are generally critically lauded and popular with viewers (if criticized by Kindred Spirits--the Anne equivalent of Trekkies).
* Tony Garnett, producer of ''Series/BetweenTheLines'', publicly said that he felt the third and final series of the show fell into this trap when he was asked why he decided not to make a third season of his popular series ''Series/ThisLife''.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Eric Kripke only intended the show to run for five seasons, which is why the fifth ends on what is, by all appearances, a GrandFinale involving the Winchesters averting Armageddon itself. It has since run for over ''twice'' that long, and season eleven was about ''God'' reconciling with his [[SiblingYinYang sister]]. There really isn't much room to maneuver on the SuperWeight tier chart.
** The show officially [[FinaleSeason came to an end]] with its ''fifteenth'' season. The final BigBad? [[spoiler: God himself. Yeah.]]
* WordOfGod has stated in various sources that ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' was meant to end with season 5. It had a very distinct ending that pretty much closed the story out. But then UPN picked it up for two additional seasons.
* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' was supposed to have ended after five seasons. An additional three were produced, minus Creator/DonKnotts and with a tired Andy Griffith before both he and Creator/RonHoward left at which point the show was retitled ''Series/MayberryRFD'' and shambled along until UsefulNotes/TheRuralPurge finally put it out of its' misery.
* ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' was not expected to last as long as it did. The original creator left after season 2 and the lead actress was gone after season 3. Creator/RoseMcGowan expected to only be around for two seasons when she was brought in as a replacement for Creator/ShannenDoherty (the length of her original contract). She and the show ended up staying around for five additional seasons. Rose has been quoted as saying "each year ''Charmed'' would get renewed and each year I would cry". The seventh season was expected to be the last, the finale of that even Book Ending the pilot episode. But an eighth season was ordered - also intending to set up spin-offs featuring Billie, Chris and Wyatt. Season 8 was the definite end, though a continuation in comic book form later resurfaced.
* ''Series/CSICyber'' had the misfortune of trying to revive the failing ''[[CashCowFranchise CSI]]'' franchise. This came as the long-running spin-offs had already shuttered and the flagship series was closing out, complete with an after-series special to tie up loose ends. ''Cyber'' [[InNameOnly sacrificed many significant elements]] from the other series, most significantly ''[[ArtifactTitle actually featuring a CSI department]]'', and failed to outlive the original series by more than a year.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' was only intended to run for two years. [[LongRunner We all know how that went out]]. It turned out the creators stumbled upon an anthology series format so flexible and interesting that they could do virtually anything with it and the show would work. It didn't stop ExecutiveMeddling and newspaper reviews declaring the series to have run its course and have no further life when:
** Lead actor Creator/WilliamHartnell left the series and the Doctor was recast with Creator/PatrickTroughton (who proved just as popular with the public and more popular with the fandom);
** The Daleks got KilledOffForReal and ExiledFromContinuity (just make the Cybermen into the Doctors' nemesis race instead!);
** All three lead actors departed at the same time just as general TV production was moving into colour ({{Retool}} the show into a spy show set on Earth, in colour, with new actors);
** The Doctor regenerated from a very popular suave secret agent character into a bug-eyed comedy lunatic played by [[Creator/TomBaker some bricklayer they pulled off the street]] (who proved to be even more popular than his predecessor);
** The Doctor regenerated from a very popular bug-eyed comedy lunatic who had been the only thing anyone wanted to watch into [[Creator/PeterDavison a well-known drama actor]] just as the show was moved into a twice-weekly soap opera slot (but the actor was very good and the scheduling reversed as soon as possible);
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Warriors of the Deep]]" [[TroubledProduction happened]], inciting Michael Grade to personally start trying to kill the show off for being an embarrassing 1960s relic (which is what eventually did it in, although it did take him five years and several false starts).
** Creator/StevenMoffat intended his tenure as showrunner and the Twelfth Doctor (Creator/PeterCapaldi) era to end with Twelve's regeneration in the two-part Series 10 finale [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]] / [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], whereupon new showrunner Creator/ChrisChibnall would introduce the Thirteenth Doctor (Creator/JodieWhittaker) in the 2017 ChristmasEpisode. But Chibnall wasn't interested in that idea, and when Moffat learned the BBC would no longer greenlight ''Who'' Christmas specials if a year were skipped, he came up with [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]] to keep the tradition going and revised the season finale: in "The Doctor Falls", Twelve [[spoiler: ''starts'' to regenerate but holds it back due to no longer wanting to change]], setting up his '''actual''' GrandFinale in "Twice Upon a Time".
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'': Once the television show reached six seasons and it was clear that its star, Creator/AdrianPaul, would not be returning for another one, Panzer devoted the entire season to auditioning female leads for a potential spin-off. Paul does not appear in nearly half of Season Six's episodes. His contract did not require him to be present for more than six episodes out of the remaining thirteen. The producers introduced a revolving door of potential Highlanderettes to don Paul's mantle, including Claudia Christian of later ''Babylon 5'' fame, but none of them fit the bill. The role eventually went to a supporting character played by Elizabeth Gracen. After all that turmoil, ''HighlanderTheRaven'' bombed spectacularly since nobody involved (from the writers to the producers) had any clue where to take the new series; and to top it all off, Gracen's character wasn't even originally written as heroic.
* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'': the show's premise centers on Brody, a returning POW who is suspected of being a turncoat by Carrie Mathison, a bipolar CIA agent. By season 3, Brody's story has petered out, [[spoiler:and he dies at the end of the season]], but from Season 4 on, the show continues to follow the CIA careers of the remaining characters. Notably, the Israeli series upon which it was based stays focused on the POW story for its entire run.
* When ''Series/TopOfThePops'' was launched at the beginning of 1964, it was only intended to run for a few weeks. As a weekly series, it lasted until the end of July 2006 when, following a slump in ratings, it bowed out in an hour-long special featuring presenters from across the decades. However, classic episodes (minus those [[BannedEpisode withdrawn in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal]]) are repeated on BBC Four and the ChristmasEpisode remains part of the BBC's festive schedule more than a decade after the main series ended.
* What (in theory) Disney attempts to avert by only keeping shows for 3 seasons. An unspoken rule of thumb for almost any Disney show since 2000 has been it won't go beyond three seasons (what the actual episode count of a "season" is up in the air), leading to shows that are extremely popular being suddenly cancelled. However, this trope has been fiddled with, where after the three season stint they create a spin-off featuring most if not all the same characters, just on a new set (ie, ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' became ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'' or how ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' turned into ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'')
* ''Series/PoliceCameraAction'' became this in 2010 but RealLifeWritesThePlot played a part; due to its original host Alastair Stewart no longer being involved after a RoleEndingMisdemeanor, and Adrian Simpson leaving in August 2008 after a short-lived {{Revival}} from September 2007 to July 2008 (10 months 1 week and 5 day), it eventually lost most of what made it popular and became too DarkerAndEdgier with this 2010 series, plus the police footage became TheArtifact and it was no longer presenter links as a FramingDevice, which alienated some of the audience. At the time, on social media (when that was still in its infancy), some fans called for a SoftReboot or ContinuityReboot to effectively bring back the franchise for a new audience and fix the show's problems, as the show was back in the public consciousness via re-runs some 5 years earlier and its fandom returned after 3 years off the air in 2005.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' is technically this, although Creator/LorneMichaels has gone back on his original plan. Originally, when Season 5 wrapped, Lorne (along with the rest of the cast and writing staff) wanted to end the show, at least for a few years, and return when they felt less burned out- same cast, same writers (more or less). NBC had [[ExecutiveMeddling other ideas]], committing the nearly-fatal mistake of putting Jean Doumanian (the producer formerly in charge of booking musical guests) at the helm and hiring a completely new cast and writing staff. [[SeasonalRot The show suffered horribly]], causing Season 6 to be thought of to this day as the worst season in 40+ years. After Jean was fired, Dick Ebersol took over for the next four seasons, keeping the show afloat (thanks in no small part to Creator/EddieMurphy and Joe Piscopo, the only holdovers from the Doumanian era). When Ebersol began talking about dropping the "live" aspect of the show, Lorne Michaels returned, and after a season of fumbling, brought the show back to its original popularity. The rest is history: he's still Executive Producer as of 2018, with no plans to end the show anytime soon.
* ''Series/TheBigComfyCouch'' became this when it was renewed not once, but ''twice'' well after the end of its first 65-episode run, thanks to ExecutiveMeddling to bring the total number of episodes up to 100. The last season, in which [[TheOtherDarrin Ramona Gilmour-Darling replaced]] Creator/AlysonCourt as Loonette, is considered by most fans to be the worst.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Castle}}''. The main character is a writer who has got so tired of his creation that he has him shot in his last book. This causes angst with his publisher (an ex-wife).
[[/folder]]

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has this as a major late-game reveal: [[spoiler:within the world of ''Danganronpa V3'', the previous installments in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' franchise were the first of a ''very'' long series which transitioned from completely fictional to using real people with their memories manipulated. It turns out that ''V3'' is a stylistic way of writing ''53'', with the current installment being the fifty-third in the franchise. The endgame boils down to stopping this from going on any longer than it already has.]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'', where billboards reference how the ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' franchise has become one to the point where a billboard displays a reboot featuring zombified versions of the characters.
* Creator/JDSalinger [[DefiedTrope defies]] this in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' on his wildly popular ''[[OverlyLongTitle Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities What Do They Know? Do They Know Things? Let's Find Out!]]'', by canceling the show after just one season. His reasoning? "I told the story I wanted to tell." Not unreasonable... except that this is a ''[[InsaneTrollLogic trivia game show.]]''
* Back when she was known as Ralph, Rachel Bighead in ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' was forced to create another show to get out of her contract, but she secretly detests it. Thus, she gets Rocko and his friends to create a terrible show, "Wacky Delly", to get kicked out of her contract. Unfortunately, [[SpringtimeForHitler it was a huge hit]]. The show goes on with her trying over and over to make it worse and worse, including having nothing but a jar of mayonnaise for 10 minutes on-screen, but it keeps getting more and more popular. It wasn't until she actually ''tried to make it better'' that it failed.
[[/folder]]

A subtrope of ExecutiveMeddling (and sometimes CashCowFranchise). See also TrilogyCreep, {{Sequelitis}}, and PostscriptSeason. Often results in SeasonalRot and OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight, but if the right people are given the reigns these tropes can be avoided. Compare CapcomSequelStagnation (a different style of milking) and AshcanCopy (where a work containing the bare minimum aspect of a franchise is [[MoneyDearBoy quickly and cheaply produced for the sole purpose of preserving the copyright to it]]).

!!Examples:

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' was supposed to end after the third season and TheMovie, but popular demand has kept it going since, even with Stephen Hillenburg being less involved with future seasons. Many complain over the [[{{Flanderization}} supposed deterioration of the main cast's personality traits]] and [[SeasonalRot the decline of writing quality/general aimlessness of the series these days]]; but, of course, if you asked any current young child (anybody born 2004+, when the Movie and the show were ''supposed'' to wrap it up), the series is absolutely fine enough to go on for many more years. And, of course, [=SpongeBob=] remains Nickelodeon's most popular cartoon, running over 20 years straight now with that distinction. However, the show would eventually WinBackTheCrowd when Stephen Hillenburg returned to the show in 2015. [[OutlivedItsCreator The show still continues after Hillenburg's death]], with an aggressive push towards spin-off series.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Creator/MattGroening stated in an interview that it was getting harder to keep the series fresh, and that while it would be around for the next couple of seasons at least, he wanted it to leave on a high note. A few weeks later, he did a public recantation: ''The Simpsons'' was fine, and would be continuing for the foreseeable future. That was in '''1999'''. Quite a number of episodes around season 7-11 made the fact that the writers thought the show would be on its way out into a common gag. Troy claims in one that the series would go on until it became unprofitable, another episode noted that the next few seasons would feature hilariously outlandish plots common to shows on the verge of cancellation, and Season 11's "Behind the Laughter" flat-out proclaims "This'll be the last season." (This is also why a large number of episodes in the Oakley/Weinstein era end on a sunset.) As of this writing in 2022, the show is currently on Season 33.
* Creator/CraigMcCracken wanted to end ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998''. Former Creator/CartoonNetwork executives said that no one would watch the reruns, so the show continued. Ironically, ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' was one of the network's highest-rated series... and it's 100% reruns. And once the show finally did end, Cartoon Network later made a LighterAndSofter [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016 reboot]] without any involvement from [=McCracken=] whatsoever.
* ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' was subject to this as well after [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna and Joseph Barbera]] left MGM, changing hands many times throughout the decades.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' and ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' were drastically retooled after the departure of their respective creators after Dexter's second season and Johnny Bravo's first. However, Johnny's creator Creator/VanPartible did return for the final season, while Dexter's creator Creator/GenndyTartakovsky worked only on a couple episodes "Chicken Scratch" and "Comedy of Feathers".
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' was created by a four-man group called Creator/ManOfActionStudios. After the series ended, the creative team continued the franchise with ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]'', both spearheaded by Glen Murakami and Creator/DwayneMcDuffie. Man of Action were also involved in the production of the two series, but when the franchise was expected to end with ''Ultimate Alien'', Man of Action left to focus on working ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', Creator/CartoonNetwork continued with the LighterAndSofter ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'', spearheaded by Derrick J. Wyatt, without the creators' involvement although the first two episodes were the last written by [=McDuffie=] before his death; [[FanonDiscontinuity fans seemed to dislike it]]. In 2016 an even [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 softer reboot]] began airing, which was at least produced by Man of Action this time around.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' was this after the second season of the show, when creator Creator/JohnKricfalusi got fired. The show was canceled after 5 seasons. It made a resurgence on Spike TV almost a decade later with Kricfalusi back at the helm briefly, but was canned again after the show tanked on account of its AudienceAlienatingPremise and [[KafkaKomedy overly dark humor]]. And then in 2021 another reboot was announced for Comedy Central, albeit without the now disgraced Kricfalusi.
* Creator/SethMacFarlane was asked about this in [[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44880176/ns/today-entertainment/#.TpdkHt4r27t an October 2011 interview]] (the question was if he planned ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' to be as long as the ''The Simpsons''). [=MacFarlane=] said that he didn't want ''Family Guy'' to be that long, and that he wanted to end the show in a high note, before it becomes stale. In the third ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody, the opening crawl starts out and then suddenly cuts in with something to the effect of "You know what? Screw this. We didn't even want to do a third one. [[BitingTheHandHumor FOX is making us because the first two did so well.]]"
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead''. Although Creator/MikeJudge doesn't like the last few seasons, claiming that they were forced on him by MTV, their supposed lack of quality is more of an InformedFlaw considering that the show remained hilariously funny right up to the GrandFinale. [[UnCanceled The short-lived 2011 revival]], on the other hand, does not fit as both Judge and MTV wanted it.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' was originally a minor character in a comic book series called ''Thimble Theater''. After Fleischer Studios lost control of the franchise, it continued directly under Paramount's banner for several years, before moving to other companies up until the beginning of the 1980's when they finally allowed the nearly at the time 50-year-old franchise to die... until a cyberpunk-set comic of Popeye that crashed very fast.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' ended by schedule after three seasons ''specifically'' to avoid this trope.
* Alex Hirsch ended ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' after two seasons to likewise avoid this problem when the show became critically acclaimed.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' suffered quite badly from this, as the show was cancelled ''three times'' by Nickelodeon, only [[{{Uncancelled}} to be brought back]] on the strength of reruns, each time adding a [[CousinOliver new character]] to try to keep the show fresh. Many people were displeased when Poof was created in the ''Fairly [=OddBaby=]'' special, but due him providing a new perspective on Timmy, Cosmo & Wanda as a surrogate son for the trio, [[FranchiseOriginalSin he was tolerated and not widely hated]]. When [[TheScrappy loathed characters Sparky]] & [[ParodySue Chloe]], however, both of whom were far more irritating and pointless additions to the show, were made, many fans felt the series long overstayed its welcome. The fact that Sparky [[ShooOutTheNewGuy was removed]] in Season 10 to be replaced by Chloe certainly didn't help matters, as it felt as if the creators were just adding new characters to cover up a lack of ideas. When the series was finally canceled for good in 2017, most fans considered it a MercyKill of a show that had [[SeasonalRot/TheFairlyOddParents long since became a shadow of its former self]]... Which didn't stop a new live-action series from being made in 2022.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210124060710/https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/south-park-renewed-three-seasons-comedy-central.html This article]] reveals that Parker and Stone had hoped to end their show earlier than the (at minimum) 26-season run (as well as 14 additional movies) that Creator/ComedyCentral had renewed the series for.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' was originally scheduled to conclude in season 10, before being renewed last minute in the spring of 2006 (the 11th season finale, explicitly designed as a ''series'' finale, was originally produced for it), then being renewed ''again'' during season 11 for two more seasons. It finally ended in 2009, although four more episodes (which were skipped over by Fox to make room for ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'') aired on Creator/AdultSwim in 2010.
[[/folder]]

** Creator/JamesWan and Leigh Whannell wanted to end the series with the [[Film/SawIII third film]], closing the book on Jigsaw and Amanda by killing both of them off. However, with the first two films having been massive hits, producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules viewed the series as Creator/{{Lionsgate}}'s first FlagshipFranchise, and [[ExecutiveMeddling forced Whannell and the writers to make numerous changes to the film]] in order to leave the door open for further installments. Indeed, there were four films after that, with a new killer taking up the Jigsaw mantle and Wan and Whannell only staying on as executive producers with no creative input. While these films [[StarTrekMovieCurse vary between positive and negative general reception]], most fans view them overall as a step down from the first three, and had a lower box office results.
** This became [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]].

** Creator/JamesWan and Leigh Whannell wanted to end the series with the [[Film/SawIII third film]], closing the book on Jigsaw and Amanda by killing both of them off. However, with the first two films having been massive hits, producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules viewed the series as Creator/{{Lionsgate}}'s first FlagshipFranchise, and [[ExecutiveMeddling forced Whannell and the writers to make numerous changes to the film]] in order to leave the door open for further installments. Indeed, there were four films after that, with a new killer taking up the Jigsaw mantle and Wan and Whannell only staying on as executive producers with no creative input. While the later ''Saw'' films range in quality, most fans view them overall as a step down from the first three, with the series producing diminishing returns at the box office after its peak with the third film.
**

* Creator/JamesWan and Leigh Whannell wanted to end the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series with the [[Film/SawIII third film]], closing the book on Jigsaw and Amanda [[spoiler:by killing them both off]]. However, with the first two films having been massive hits, Creator/{{Lionsgate}} viewed ''Saw'' as their new big horror franchise, and instead of decisively ending the series, ''Film/SawIII'' featured several small moments designed to leave the door open for further sequels. Indeed, there were four films after that, with new killers taking up the Jigsaw mantle and Wan and Whannell only staying on as executive producers with no creative input. While the later ''Saw'' films range in quality, most fans view them overall as a step down from the first three, with the series producing diminishing returns at the box office after its peak with the third film.

!!Examples

!!!In-universe:

* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' has the ''Nightfall'' series, a thinly-veiled parody of the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series. Thanks to a constant succession of authors using the same pen name (and the same sentient pen), it's been going for 120 years at a rate of three books per year. While it's still pretty popular, the most recent books have attracted enough criticism that the twelfth and current writer has decided to quit the series, though even she opts to pass the torch to Lotte rather than end ''Nightfall'' entirely.

* In ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'', the Robert E. Howard knockoff plots to kill off his creation once and for all. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:his creation comes to life and abducts him]].
* In ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'', the Gentry use the power of the Anti-Death Equation to keep Nix Uotan alive so they can corrupt him, a likely allusion to companies refusing to let go of concepts they can squeeze profit out of.
* ''[[Magazine/{{MAD}} MAD Magazine]]'' had its "instant movie reviews", where by taking letters from the name they managed to spell out a brief review. [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime Th]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime E]]''' [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime La]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime N]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime d Bef]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime O]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime re Time IV: J]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime OU]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime rney Throu]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime GH]]''' [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime The Mist]] gives us "ENOUGH". Since said movie is on ''number fourteen and counting'', it's pretty evident they didn't listen.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'' [[spoiler:Admiral]] claims that the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' films kept trying to reinvent themselves to stay current with changes in AI technology but largely failed and stopped being any good be M4, two thousand years after the original.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* The ''Stab'' series, the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional film franchise]] that serves as an analogue to ''Film/{{Scream}}'' within its universe. The first ''Stab'' was [[RippedFromTheHeadlines a fictionalized version]] of the events of the first ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', and it's implied that ''Stab 2'' (which is never seen) was based on the events of ''Film/{{Scream 2}}''. However, after ''Film/Scream3'', which saw ''Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro'' experience a violently TroubledProduction, [[FinalGirl Sidney Prescott]] sued the producers of ''Stab'' to prevent any further use of the characters. Unfazed, they continued on anyway with a new cast, and by ''Film/Scream4'' there have been seven ''Stab'' films of declining quality, the series having dropped all pretense of being BasedOnATrueStory; by the fifth film, they were throwing in TimeTravel. ''Film/Scream2022'' reveals the eighth ''Stab'' tried something different, but the results (which included Ghostface with a flamethrower!) wound up massively disliked. [[spoiler:To the point the killers are {{Loony Fan}}s slicing up Woodsboro so their killing spree can inspire a ''Stab'' movie hewing closer to the old ones.]]
* ''Film/TropicThunder'': The ''Scorcher'' action film series, starring [[Creator/BenStiller Tugg Speedman]]. Once a top box office but now a commercial and critical failure.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': In 2015, there's ''JustForFun/Jaws19'' ("This time, it's really REALLY personal"). [[SpecialEffectsFailure Shark still looks fake, though]].
* ''Film/TwentyTwoJumpStreet'' parodies this in the end {{credits gag}} which features increasingly bizarre sequel ideas, from ''23 Jump Street: Med School'' to ''29 Jump Street: Sunday School'' (in which Jonah Hill leaves and is replaced by Seth Rogen) to ''2121 Jump Street'' (RecycledInSpace).
* A newscast seen within ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' promises a review of ''Rocky 5000''. While ''Spaceballs'' never quite establishes whether it's in the future or "a long time ago," it's a safe bet that 5000 movies in, the original creators are no longer the ones in charge.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov wrote a short story, "Literature/AuthorAuthor", about a mystery writer forced by his publisher to write endless novels about his famous detective, Reginald de Meister, despite his desire to write a serious novel. Unfortunately for him, De Meister [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve seems so real to fans that he actually]] ''[[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve becomes]]'' [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve real]] and demands not only that more "Reginald de Meister" stories be written, but that the quality be improved.
* In Sharyn [=McCrumb=]'s ''Literature/BimbosOfTheDeathSun'', author Appin Dungannon is enslaved to writing sequels to a series of Franchise/{{Conan|TheBarbarian}}-wannabe novels despite wanting recognition as a serious author because the first few were so popular. As a result, the author is cantankerous and rude to sci-fi fans in general, and violent towards fans of his own books. He comes to hate his barbarian hero so much that he writes several humiliating death scenes for the character.
* In Dan Simmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos'', Martin Silenus could have ended ''The Dying Earth'' more or less immediately after the first installment, a long poem. He [[MoneyDearBoy keeps going for the money]]. Eventually, it leads to him "losing his muse", and spending the next several decades looking for it.
* Creator/StephenKing's ''{{Literature/Misery}}''. The main character of the novel is so fed up of the trashy Victorian-esque novels he writes, he conclusively kills off the main character of [[ShowWithinAShow the books he writes]]. Then he crashes his car and gets taken in by [[LoonyFan a huge fan of his]]... who ties him to a bed and forces him to write another sequel, making him have to resurrect the extremely dead character. It actually turns out to be the best book in the series. [[spoiler:He takes it with him and publishes it after he escapes.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}''. The main character is a writer who has got so tired of his creation that he has him shot in his last book. This causes angst with his publisher (an ex-wife).

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has this as a major late-game reveal: [[spoiler:within the world of ''Danganronpa V3'', the previous installments in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' franchise were the first of a ''very'' long series which transitioned from completely fictional to using real people with their memories manipulated. It turns out that ''V3'' is a stylistic way of writing ''53'', with the current installment being the fifty-third in the franchise. The endgame boils down to stopping this from going on any longer than it already has.]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'', where billboards reference how the ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' franchise has become one to the point where a billboard displays a reboot featuring zombified versions of the characters.
* Creator/JDSalinger [[DefiedTrope defies]] this in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' on his wildly popular ''[[OverlyLongTitle Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities What Do They Know? Do They Know Things? Let's Find Out!]]'', by canceling the show after just one season. His reasoning? "I told the story I wanted to tell." Not unreasonable... except that this is a ''[[InsaneTrollLogic trivia game show.]]''
* Back when she was known as Ralph, Rachel Bighead in ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' was forced to create another show to get out of her contract, but she secretly detests it. Thus, she gets Rocko and his friends to create a terrible show, "Wacky Delly", to get kicked out of her contract. Unfortunately, [[SpringtimeForHitler it was a huge hit]]. The show goes on with her trying over and over to make it worse and worse, including having nothing but a jar of mayonnaise for 10 minutes on-screen, but it keeps getting more and more popular. It wasn't until she actually ''tried to make it better'' that it failed.

!!!In real life:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. It was intended to end after ''one season'', but has remained going to this very day, though it has had its ups and downs since the original series. There's also the movies, which currently number in the twenties. Not helping matters is that the movies continued to [[StrictlyFormula mechanically follow the same formula]] over time even as the main anime's writing and animation were kicked up a notch. It says something when the announcement of ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'', a nostalgia-based MilestoneCelebration movie that also doubles as a ContinuityReboot, was one of the most surprising things revealed for the franchise in years.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' was supposed to wrap up at episode 57. However, the series was so wildly successful it continued for another thirty-five episodes. And then two movies were made. And two sequels. And more movies. And crossovers. And spin-offs. And reboots. And remakes. [[OverlyLongGag And]] Creator/GoNagai stated that he got offers for a Mazinger-Z live-action movie…
* Creator/KazukiTakahashi, creator of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'', was very apprehensive about the idea of a show after ''GX'', and when he created characters and concepts for ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', it was under the condition that ''5D's'' would be the last one, and he deliberately refused to have input on it. As of this writing, there have been four shows since ''5D's'', and Takahashi's direct input on the anime seems to have ceased after ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'', with his major contributions since then consisting of various art pieces and some work on the films.
* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' got to the point where one of the movies not-too-subtly encouraged the audience to let go of it so that Creator/RumikoTakahashi could get on with her life.
* Naoko Takeuchi intended for the manga of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' to end after the Dark Kingdom arc, but the producers for the [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] persuaded her to continue. By the time you reach the Stars arc, Takeuchi's frustration is nearly palpable. The villains are, respectively, the Sailor Guardians of the ''Milky Way Galaxy'' and the force of pure Chaos, as if Takeuchi is daring her producers [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil to tell her to "top that."]]
* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' was originally planned to wrap up with the conclusion of the Raoh saga. However, due to its popularity, the manga was renewed for a couple more years, forcing authors Buronson and Tetsuo Hara to continue the story beyond its intended conclusion. Even Buronson admitted that it was hard for him to continue writing the manga after killing off Raoh and doesn't remember much of what happened afterward.
* Monkey Punch originally intended for ''Manga/LupinIII'' to be another one of his adult parody manga series that only lasted a few chapters like most of his past works. However, ''Weekly Manga Action'', the magazine that serialized it, started selling like hotcakes because of this and led to him continuing the manga for five years. Afterwards, [[Franchise/LupinIII TV series, movies and specials]] have kept the franchise going continuously. Even Monkey Punch himself expressed complete surprise over the series' sudden popularity. This hasn't stopped him from continuing to work on it with subsequent sequel manga, though.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' is a very odd example. Creator Creator/YoshiyukiTomino didn't expect it to go beyond the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', especially after it was nearly cancelled. However, its runaway success in reruns (and especially the recut movie trilogy) led to its becoming an overnight success, and for over a decade he continued to work on sequels. In 1994, fed up with ExecutiveMeddling, Tomino sold the rights to the franchise to Creator/{{Sunrise}} and went off to work on other series. Not willing to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, Sunrise started producing the Alternate Universe series (like ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]''), while occasionally dipping back into the Universal Century timeline. As of its 34th anniversary in 2013, ''Gundam'' consisted of 12 TV series, 7 {{OVA}}s, and 13 movie adaptations [[note]]only three, UC verse's ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Gundam F91]]'', and the (comparably) recent ''Gundam 00'''s ''[[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer A Wakening of the Trailblazer]]'' are original; the others are recuts[[/note]], and God only knows how many manga, video games and other media, and it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.\\
\\
It's become something of a popular fandom myth that Tomino hates ''Gundam'' and has actively tried to sink it for years, usually attributed to his reputation for KillEmAll. In the novelization of the original series, Tomino actually kills off main character Amuro Ray; however, he explained that he was just thinking of the novels as a stand-alone story, and if he had given consideration the possibility of a sequel, he wouldn't have killed Amuro.\\
\\
This myth was reportedly debunked by [[WordOfGod the man himself]] when he momentarily returned to direct ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' and later the ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' movie trilogy. During either of these two points, Tomino all but outright admitted that ''Gundam'' was his greatest creation and that, while he has some regrets, he still takes certain pride in its development. Along that line, it should be noted that either of the two series are a dramatic switch from usual Tomino storytelling methods, with ''Turn A'' being a more lighthearted character drama and the ''Zeta'' trilogy omitting many of the darker elements of the original series, which included replacing the ending with a far happier one where [[spoiler:Kamille ''wasn't'' mentally crippled by Scirocco, the AEUG remains intact and Axis never goes to war with the Earthsphere.]] The latter even closes with an optimistic dialogue spoken by Sayla Mass[[note]]specifically leftover recordings from original seiyuu Yo Inoue, who died in 2003[[/note]].
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'' was originally meant to end at two volumes. Since the manga is now approaching 100 volumes and the anime is a CashCowFranchise for TMS, it definitely didn't go the way the author thought it would.
* ''Manga/KOn'' ended fairly definitively with the graduation of the original club members and the anime followed suit. However the following year (2011) a movie was released. The manga author, Kakifly, also started a new series of manga chapters (dividing the story between the original four's college experience and Azusa's role as club leader of the high school Light Music Club). The restarted manga is accused of being a zombie that only exists to feed off the movie's buzz (it was often said to be of lower quality compared to the original run, and its abrupt ending after two volumes only added credence to that notion).
* The ''[[LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}} Monogatari Series]]'' has been accused of this, what with the light novels seemingly releasing their conclusion in the aptly-named ''Owarimonogatari'' (End Story) and its epilogue ''Zoku-Owarimonogatari'', only for more books to continue releasing, which have been criticized for [[OutOfFocus reducing Koyomi and Hitagi's previously well-characterized relationship into a plot device]], rehashing plots from earlier volumes, and {{flanderiz|ation}}ing its returning characters. The fact that none of the light novels post-''Owarimonogatari'' have been animated certainly doesn't help with this perception.
* Manga/Cyborg009 was intended to only be one arc long, even killing the main character. However it proved so popular that Creator/ShotaroIshinomori retconned Joe into surviving, and was still working on the series at the time of his ''death''. His son later completed the original manga using notes he left behind, but animated adaptations, reboots, and expansions are still being made.
* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' has been accused of this--the original web novel ended at two volumes with Nicol's graduation and the end of the year party where the characters promise to stay friends forever, and the anime follows suit by only adapting up to that point. However, the web novel proved so popular that when it was published in print, the series continued after that point. The later light novel volumes have been criticized for all relying on [[RecycledScript the same plot]] where Catarina meets a new character and inadvertently fixes their personal problems and causes them to fall in love with her, and for ShipTease of [[spoiler:Catarina and Geordo]] at the expense of every other pairing, when the earlier volumes were even-handed about teasing Catarina with all her possible love interests equally. When, due to the success of the first anime, another season was made covering the light novel-original material, even professional reviewers who didn't have knowledge of the source material noted the step down in quality and how much of a PostscriptSeason it felt like.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': The most successful comic book series in the Dutch-speaking world started off in 1945. Quality wise the first twenty years were the best stories. In 1972 the original creator, Willy Vandersteen, left the series in hands of his successors, who failed to duplicate the quality of the originals, but nevertheless the stories kept on selling. After Vandersteen's death in 1990 the creative control vanished and the series itself quickly went downhill. As of today, new stories are still published, but apart from the main characters it has deviated enormously from the original concept. The main reason it still sells today is because of the sheer volume of work and the enthusiastic collectors who keep buying every issue. Virtually every ''Suske en Wiske'' fan agrees: it's not what it used to be at all.
* ''ComicBook/XMen2019'': Hickman changed the status quo of the X-Men franchise, moving the cast from Xavier's mansion to the living island of Krakoa, and forming their own mutant nation. This came with many changes, such as working with their former enemies, more political intrigue, [[BackFromTheDead Resurrections Protocols]] to bring back the dead, and mutants succeeding instead of being hunted to extinction. Originally, the Krakoa era was meant to be a temporary thing, and only expanded if the idea proved popular, with Hickman having a planned story to tell. Seeds were already planted for various ways to end the era and reset the status quo, as well as plot points that were going to be expanded to move the overall narrative forward. However, the Krakoa era ended up being so popular with fans and writers that Hickman's plans had to be changed to accommodate the extended stay. The era would go on to outlast its creator, who would leave three years after coming aboard, rushing a conclusion that also threw in some things that were ''very clearly'' meant to be set up later.

[[folder:Automobiles]]
* The Hillman Avenger, a sedan and stationwagon produced in the United Kingdom by Chrysler, then Rootes-Chrysler, went through three different badges in its lifetime, Hillman from 1970 to 1976, Chrysler from 1976 to 1979, and then Talbot from 1979 to 1981 (when PSA Peugeot-Citroen bought the rights to Chrysler Europe and lost the rights to the Chrysler name) and [[MarketBasedTitle Sunbeam Avenger in Scandinavia]]. Incidentally, things would come full circle when PSA Peugeot Citroen merged with Stellantis. But that's not the end of the story; in 1982, when the design was 22 years old, it continued until 1991, after Volkswagen Argentina bought the tooling and rights, badging it the Volkswagen 1500, which was [[NonIndicativeName available with a 1.5-litre and a 1.8-litre engine, and not a 1.5-litre only as the cubic capacity nameplate suggested]]. [[https://www.maronline.org.uk/a-rather-different-vw1500/More about it here]], for those interested. However, it couldn't compete with the then-new Ford Sierra, Chevrolet Monza and Toyota Corona in Argentina, which were more modern and safer to drive, and even Chrysler's own [[MarketBasedTitle Chrysler Spirit sedan]] which launched a year later, as some Volkswagen 1500s were sold into 1992 that were surplus stock.
* Vauxhall had this problem from 2002 to 2005 when some dealers were selling grey import Opel Vectra B models imported from Egypt, which were the previous generation, at a time when they were trying to heavily promote the new-generation Vectra C. In Egypt, [[ValuesDissonance a previous generation continuing for a while isn't a bad thing for cash-strapped new car buyers in a market where there isn't as much choice for marques]], but British buyers preferred the newer car, and many ended up re-exported by Egyptian expats. In Egypt, the car continued for 3 years after production ended for the UK market.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' is on its ''fourteenth'' installment and counting (and Creator/DonBluth was only involved with the first). The first movie is widely regarded as a classic. The second movie, and every movie thereafter, was pretty obviously a cash-grab. That makes 13 straight movies of pure zombie.
* After the ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' franchise's original [[GrandFinale finale film]] ''WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch'' aired in 2006, the franchise has managed to receive two more SpinOff TV shows, both of which that take place in the countries where those shows are produced after the events of the original franchise and see Stitch get separated from Lilo to become besties with other human girls. Then in 2020, this further included a web manga SpinOff where Stitch ends up in feudal Japan and befriends an adult male warlord instead. [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Original film]] writer-director (and Stitch's creator and original voice actor) Creator/ChrisSanders had no involvement with the franchise after he left Creator/{{Disney}} in 2007, and even then, he only did voice acting work in the sequel films, ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', and other SpinOff media. Meanwhile, audiences who did see the Asian spin-offs were put off by Stitch being without Lilo--though both shows did get their share of fans--and what's left of the core fanbase have become desperate for a revival of the original continuity.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' certainly fits the bill. Going from [[Film/{{Highlander}} a cult classic film]] with a self-contained ending (the writers wriggled out this one by simply retconning everything), to a series of awesomely terrible sequels, TV spinoffs, cartoons and video games. One might argue that it was the least desired "franchise" of all time. A lot of mixed feelings toward Bill Panzer, the producer of ''Highlander'' who died in 2007. On the one hand, ''Highlander'' was definitely his baby: Panzer was very active in the ''Highlander'' fan circuit, and even appears in the DVD featurettes while revisiting old shooting locations from the TV show. The man clearly cared a lot about the ''Highlander'' 'verse and wanted it to succeed. On the other hand, his zeal in pushing for more, more, '''more''' ''Highlander'' was likely motivated by profit. By the time ''Film/HighlanderTheSource'' came around, all artistic merit had been drained from the series and nobody had a clue how to prolong the story. There's some hope that the ContinuityReboot starring Creator/HenryCavill can infuse some merit in the live-action corner of the franchise again.
* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''. ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'' ends with an EarthShatteringKaboom that would [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun prevent further sequels]]. Creator/CharltonHeston specifically requested this ending so he wouldn't have to do any more movies (he made two brief appearances in the sequel primarily as a "thank you" to 20th Century Fox). The third, ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'', uses time travel to continue in the present day instead of AfterTheEnd, and had an ending that was originally only envisioned as a connection to the original movie instead of a SequelHook... but it then led to two more sequels (with [[Film/BattleForThePlanetOfTheApes the fifth]] being the [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1169126_9,00.html absolute worst]]). And to make matters worse, the studio slashed the budget for every new movie! Only after the fifth movie bombed did Fox finally consent to RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain, so to speak. Of course, that didn't stop the franchise from continuing on TV (and eventually, returning to theaters with [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 a remake]], and then a reboot trilogy loosely based on ''Conquest'' and ''Battle'' but much better received).
* Creator/FrancisFordCoppola had no intention of making any sequels to ''Film/TheGodfather''. It's typically said that the only reason he made ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'' was to get the funding to make ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', which led to further executive pressure and a ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'' as well (hence the often-quoted line "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."). ''Part III'' in particular was not even intended to be a direct sequel--Coppola is on record for saying the film--which was originally titled ''The Death of Michael Corleone''--was intended to be an epilogue to the first two films, as opposed to being a third ''Godfather'' installment.
* The sixth entry in ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' franchise, ''Film/RevengeOfThePinkPanther'', was essentially commissioned by Creator/UnitedArtists just to have a big film for summer 1978. By the time it was done, the long-strained working relationship between Creator/PeterSellers (Inspector Clouseau) and Creator/BlakeEdwards (writer-director) had snapped. Sellers planned a continuation he could put his heart into with ''Romance of the Pink Panther'', which he was co-scripting and Edwards was paid ''not'' to participate in, but the project died along with Sellers in 1980. Edwards decided to continue the series himself with a ReplacementScrappy character in ''Film/CurseOfThePinkPanther'', which flopped instantly and led to the original franchise's [[FranchiseKiller death]]...
* ZAZ has made it quite clear that they had no part or interest in the ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' sequel (in the first one's DVD commentary, they admit they've never even ''seen'' it), thinking that all of the good ideas had been used. Indeed, half the jokes in [[Film/AirplaneIITheSequel the sequel]] were recycled from the first film.
* When his father died suddenly in 1956, Leo Gorcey decided he could no longer continue with the ''Bowery Boys'' movie series. (His father Bernard Gorcey played sweet shop owner Louie Dumbrowski in those movies.) The fact that Gorcey had top billing in the movies didn't prevent Republic from continuing the series, replacing Gorcey with Stanley Clements. The series limped along with seven flat movies before ending two years later.
* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''
** Creator/JohnCarpenter, in a 1982 interview, stated that Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis both died at the end of ''Film/HalloweenII1981'' and that he intended to make the series into an anthology "like ''The Twilight Zone'' but on a larger scale." After the financial flop of ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'', Carpenter opted out of doing any more and signed away the rights to producer Moustapha Akkad, who quickly revived the original formula. Michael Myers went on to appear in five more films after his canon death, not counting the remakes.
** Music/RobZombie expressed disappointment at the studio's initial plans to resurrect Michael for a third remake film, despite his insistence that his ''Film/{{Halloween II|2009}}'' was the end of the franchise. In Rob's case, it ended up being a zigzagged trope, as although another ''Film/{{Halloween|2018}}'' was eventually greenlit, it's an [[{{Unreboot}} alternate sequel to the original film]], with no connection to the remakes.
* Creator/WesCraven wanted ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' to be a single movie. Then when he returned to co-write [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors the third film]], he wanted that to be the last.
* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' had three unremarkable sequels. The book's author Peter Benchley and Creator/StevenSpielberg had nothing to do with them (Benchley traded the potential sequel rights -- "I don't care about sequels; who'll ever want to make a sequel to a movie about a fish?" -- for cash payments; and Spielberg stated that "[[{{Sequelitis}} making a sequel to anything is just a cheap carny trick]]", though Spielberg later admitted that he could have done ''Film/{{Jaws 2}}'' if he [[TroubledProduction hadn't had a horrible time with the first]]). One article even said ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'' StoppedNumberingSequels because [[http://lebeauleblog.com/2015/09/06/franchise-killers-jaws-the-revenge/ "the studio wanted to hide the fact that ''Jaws: The Revenge'' was the fourth film in a franchise that never needed a second film."]]
* ''Film/LethalWeapon4'' was made six years after the previous installment mainly because Warner Brothers was running into financial trouble and the series was just about the only CashCowFranchise it could count on to deliver a good box office return up until the smashing success of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''. For its own credit, the film is a rare case of divisiveness approach instead of typical FanonDiscontinuity.
* An example regarding only the main actor: Creator/RogerMoore wanted to stop playing Film/JamesBond after ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', because it was getting embarrassing at his age to be shown with such young women (In [[Film/AViewToAKill his final appearance as Bond]], he was older than the ''mother'' of the actress who played the primary Bond Girl), but Creator/UnitedArtists kept dragging him back for one more.
* ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'' was such a success that Creator/IrwinAllen decided it had to have a sequel, and commissioned the original book's author Paul Gallico to write a follow-up, even if it followed the movie's continuity due to a massive ending change (the novel has the ''Poseidon'' sinking, while the film ends with the ship capsized but still afloat). He [[DiedDuringProduction died writing it]], two years before ''Beyond the Poseidon Adventure'' hit book stores, and one prior to the badly received movie adaptation.
* Creator/JamesWan and Leigh Whannell wanted to end the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series with the [[Film/SawIII third film]], closing the book on Jigsaw and Amanda [[spoiler:by killing them both off]]. However, with the first two films having been massive hits, Creator/{{Lionsgate}} viewed ''Saw'' as their new big horror franchise, and instead of decisively ending the series, ''Film/SawIII'' featured several small moments designed to leave the door open for further sequels. Indeed, there were four films after that, with new killers taking up the Jigsaw mantle and Wan and Whannell only staying on as executive producers with no creative input. While the later ''Saw'' films range in quality, most fans view them overall as a step down from the first three, with the series producing diminishing returns at the box office after its peak with the third film.
* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series was intended to end with ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', which conclusively finished off any chance of [[AIIsACrapshoot Skynet]] being brought into existence. Creator/JamesCameron had interest in continuing, but no concrete ideas as he got busy with ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' and the producers of ''[=T2=]'' bought the franchise rights to make a third movie without him. ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' was one hell of a ContestedSequel, and yet made enough money to get people interested in making more - which unfortunadely wasn't the case with the follow-ups ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', and lastly ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', all [[BoxOfficeBomb underperforming enough to kill planned sequels]] (and the last one, being the first to get Cameron's input as writer and producer, was [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight supposed]] to finally get things back on track, only to be a FranchiseKiller instead).
* While Creator/GeorgeLucas did envision ''Franchise/StarWars'' as a nine-part saga at a certain point, he eventually settled for just six with the prequels giving the original trilogy a conclusive thematic endpoint. Then Disney bought Lucasfilm specifically to create a sequel trilogy.
* Clive Barker signed the ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'' [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld story and character rights to the production company]] before [[Film/{{Hellraiser}} the first film]], not realizing what a great success it would be. ''Film/HellboundHellraiserII'' still followed a story Barker wrote. The five follow-ups, not at all, and Barker even got mad at seeing his name being used to market the AshCanCopy ''Film/HellraiserRevelations''.
* The ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' franchise was never originally intended to be so. Only after the incredible success of [[Film/JurassicPark the first film]], was it turned into a series (see the Literature folder). The number of film adaptations (five and counting) now greatly outnumbers the books they're based on, outlived [[Creator/MichaelCrichton the original author]], and deviate greatly from them in numerous aspects, while still picking out bits and pieces to use as scenes in each movie at random. None of the movie sequels are considered as good as the original film, with general reception ranging from passable but still inferior for the [[Film/JurassicWorld fourth film]], mixed opinions for the [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark second]] and [[Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom fifth]] entries, to just plain bad for the [[Film/JurassicParkIII third one]] (which was a FranchiseKiller until the series was rebooted fourteen years later). Not helping this is the perceived devolution from trying to portray the dinosaurs as semi-realistic animals and keeping the science grounded, to just another generic action blockbuster that depicts the dinosaurs as plot-convenient movie monsters.
* ''Film/AirBud'' is a memorable family basketball comedy about a dog that just wants to play basketball. It also had a pretty good sequel that came out the following year. Every sequel after that is direct-to-video and just has Buddy taking on yet another sport. Worse yet is the ''Air Buddies'' spinoff series starring Buddy's TalkingAnimal offspring. They have not only replaced the ''Buddy'' character entirely, but with seven different films, it's very clear it's nothing but another cash-grab series. The spinoff series even has a spinoff of its own in the form of the ''Santa Paws'' films.
* There were more than twice as many ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films after the one subtitled ''[[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter The Final Chapter]]'' (the fourth film in the franchise) than there were before it, such that it has become the butt of many jokes about {{sequelitis}} in the horror genre, many lampooning the fact that, from [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives the sixth film]] onward, they literally brought Jason back as a RevenantZombie. That said, the general consensus among fans is that, while the movies varied in quality before then, ''Friday''[='=]s zombie period really started when Creator/NewLineCinema bought the rights to the franchise after it was [[FranchiseKiller killed]] by the eighth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan Jason Takes Manhattan]]'', having done so entirely to make a {{crossover}} with ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''. During the DevelopmentHell of what would become ''Film/FreddyVsJason'', New Line released two standalone ''Friday'' films; the first one, ''Film/JasonGoesToHellTheFinalFriday'', is regarded as an InNameOnly sequel and one of the worst films in the series, while the second one, ''Film/JasonX'', is more a parody of the franchise than a serious continuation.
* The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films were intended to be concluded with the 1968 MonsterMash ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', set in the far future ([[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture of 1999]]), where the kaiju BigBad King Ghidorah is finally killed and the monsters are all allowed to live out their days in peace. However, the box office success of the film led to a string of sequels ([[{{Interquel}} chronologically set before]] ''Destroy All Monsters'') generally considered to be of significantly lower quality, even among the campy Showa Era films, beginning with the almost universally reviled ''Film/AllMonstersAttack'', and the very wacky ''Film/GodzillaVsHedorah'', ''Film/GodzillaVsGigan'', and ''Film/GodzillaVsMegalon'', although the last two films of the Showa Era, ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzilla'' and ''Film/TerrorOfMechagodzilla'' are considered to be a little better, particularly due to the introduction of the popular villain Mechagodzilla. And of course we know the franchise didn't even stop there, and now ''Destroy All Monsters'' only represents the ''quarter-mark'' in the series.
* Creator/DavidCronenberg only ever intended ''Film/{{Scanners}}'' to be a single film (and it's amazing that film even saw the light of day, given its TroubledProduction). Christian Duguay took over and made ''Film/ScannersIITheNewOrder'' and ''Film/ScannersIIITheTakeover'' about a decade later. The protagonist of ''2'' is apparently the son of the protagonist of the first film, but that's where the connection ends; the third film onwards feature entirely unrelated characters. This spawned yet another duo of spinoff movies, ''Film/ScannerCop'' and ''Film/ScannerCopII''. Exploding heads and dueling telepaths are clearly just too awesome not to milk it for all it's worth.
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' suffered from this. After the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Sony wanted a fourth movie made specifically [[AshCanCopy to keep the rights from reverting to Marvel Studios]], but director Creator/SamRaimi left because he felt he wasn't given enough time to make the movie he wanted. So Sony opted for a full ContinuityReboot, ''and'' used it as a launchpad for obvious attempts to copy the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's formula for a ModularFranchise with the small selection of ''Spider-Man''-related material that they have the rights to. But with diminishing returns for the franchise and a few reviews for ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' essentially using "franchise fatigue" to refer to this very trope, Sony eventually decided to cut the ''Amazing'' series short and instead strike a deal with Marvel to have Spider-Man join the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself. (Though they're still trying to launch a [[Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse separate Spider-Man-based franchise]], starting with ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'', initially without the actual Spider-Man.)

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/IanFleming first intended to conclude the ''Literature/JamesBond'' series with [[spoiler:Bond's death]] in ''Literature/FromRussiaWithLove''. He backed out and made ''Literature/DrNo'' (which declares the poisoning was non-fatal). Then there was [[spoiler: Bond's amnesia]] at the end of ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', but the publishers' pressures led to the writing of one final novel before Fleming's death, ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' - which wound up [[DiedDuringProduction published eight months after his death]]. According to certain rumors, Fleming didn't even write the whole book, and Kingsley Amis (who later wrote ''Literature/ColonelSun'') completed it.
* Rev. W. Awdry originally intended for book 12, ''The Eight Famous Engines'', in his famous [[Literature/TheRailwaySeries Railway Series books]] to be the final volume. The publishers insisted that he keep going. Considering how popular the books were [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends and are]], it's understandable.
* Creator/MichaelCrichton intended for his 1990 novel ''Literature/JurassicPark'' to be a standalone work. After its film adaptation, which he helped write the screenplay for, became a huge financial success, its creators pressured him to write a follow-up book so they could make a sequel film. Crichton reluctantly agreed and published ''Literature/TheLostWorld1995'' in 1995, which retconned a lot of the plot points from the original novel ''Jurassic Park'' to match the ways in which the film's plot had departed from it (including bringing back a character from the dead). After ''The Lost World'' was published, Crichton had no involvement in the ''Jurassic Park'' film franchise, which carried on despite his death in 2008. This is further elaborated on in the film section.
* The success of ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' led publisher Scholastic to bet everything they had on it and tell author R.L. Stine to keep going. He did, and the quality suffered. The books ended up StrictlyFormula and became shorter. Their popularity dropped as a result. It's been rumored that Stine became so fed up with this that many of the later books were ghostwritten.[[note]]Stine denies this, but realistically at least ''some'' proportion of the original books must have been ghostwritten — they came out monthly between 1992 and 2000, and once you include spin-off series such as Give Yourself Goosebumps and Tales to Give You Goosebumps, up to three books could be released in the same month, which is an unfeasibly high level of output for a single author.[[/note]]
* Literature/SherlockHolmes died because Sir Creator/ArthurConanDoyle had grown tired of writing him and wanted to devote more time to his historical novels. Public and [[ExecutiveMeddling editorial pressure]] forced him to bring Holmes back. In stories written years later, [[BackFromTheDead Holmes reappeared]], having survived (although the first story published after Conan Doyle's eight-year hiatus, "The Hound of the Baskervilles", was [[{{Interquel}} set before]] "The Final Problem"). This is thus also an example of a (metaphorical) ''character'' zombie. (Though Doyle's fatigue doesn't show in the writing quality until after, in 1917, Holmes was given a proper GrandFinale and it still wasn't enough to keep the fanbase from howling for more.)
* Maurice Leblanc tried to kill his hero Literature/ArseneLupin but had to resurrect him for several new books due to popularity.
* Another French writer, Pierre Ponson du Terrail, pulled a "Doyle" when he killed off his pulp hero ''Rocambole'', then eventually brought him back from the dead due to public pressure.
* Creator/LFrankBaum of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' fame never really intended for the original book to spawn a series, and by the third sequel he was growing tired of writing about the Literature/LandOfOz. Unfortunately, none of his other books sold. He even tried creating something of a BackdoorPilot by writing an Oz novel in which Dorothy and company take a backseat to a new set of characters who later showed up in an unrelated book. But it didn't work, and financial troubles forced Baum to keep writing Oz books for the rest of his life. In the introduction to one book, the narrator actually tells the reader that he knows many stories not related to Oz, and wishes he had a chance to tell them. Even Baum's death could not stop the series the author himself didn't want to continue. A sequence of different authors were hired by Baum's publisher to serve as his "heirs", and for the next six decades, ''many'' sequels (24 or so of these were considered 'canon') were churned out, of greatly varying quality.
* Creator/AlanGarner acheived literary fame on the basis of two fantasy novels aimed at older children/young adults, ''Literature/TheWeirdstoneOfBrisingamen'' and ''Literature/TheMoonOfGomrath''. He went on to write a long list of books he considered had far more literary merit and worth, and if he didn't actually ''hate'' his first two published works, he certainly disdained them. He was certainly annoyed with fans of the first two books who demanded and asked and pleaded for more involving the characters of Colin and Susan (the child protagonists). He made his deep dislike of the books, their premise, and their characters, very clear indeed by taking fifty years to write ''Literature/{{Boneland}}'', the ''very'' long-awaited successor to ''Brisingamen'' and ''Gomrath''. In this book Colin has grown up into an over-educated depressive and borderline sociopath with mental health issues, and Susan apparently drowned herself one night when chasing after elves in the starlight. ''Boneland'' is pessimistic, chilly, dark and noir and bleak - with none of the magic or optimism of the books it succeeds. Colin may die on a hospital operating table after ECT for his mental health problems (the book is ambiguous on this). Garner very emphatically answered the fans' request for more by providing ''exactly'' the opposite to what they wanted, and by killing off the beloved lead characters. And a lot of the supporting cast.
* Thomas Harris only wrote ''Literature/HannibalRising'' because Dino De Laurentiis threatened to make a Hannibal origins story without his involvement. Given both the book and movie were poorly received, it's hard to see him being forced to do this again. Then there's the television ''{{Series/Hannibal}}'', which adds original material but mostly tries to stay in the few years prior to and including ''Literature/RedDragon''.
* Creator/RASalvatore has been said to have wished that he had killed [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt Do'Urden]] off years ago. In fact, he had once withdrawn from the franchise only to have Wizards of the Coast go so far as to solicit a manuscript by another author for a new Drizzt novel, ''Shores of Dusk''. The novel even appeared in catalogs for an August 1997 release. Salvatore caved and the solicited novel disappeared. That was ten novels ago.
* Even [[DiedDuringProduction dying]] hasn't stopped Creator/VCAndrews, who's still publishing in 2020 despite having died in 1986. It's like the Creator/StratemeyerSyndicate, but with an author's ''real name''.
* ''Literature/WinnieThePooh''. Supposedly, Milne wanted to kill Pooh off, but that failed. [[CreatorBacklash He hated the series because it made people ignore his adult works]]. It was even harder when it was picked up by Disney.
* Regarding Clive Cussler's [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt]] novels; Trojan Odyssey shows every sign of being the last book. Pitt, Gunn, and Giordino are promoted to desk jobs while Sandecker becomes VP. Long-running subplots are finally resolved with Dirk marrying Loren and finally recognizes the strange man named Clive Cussler he meets at the wedding as the stranger that helps him every adventure, and he is introduced to his adult children he never knew about. This was six books ago.
* Creator/DorothyLSayers is an interesting case in that she zombie'd her own franchise with no help from publishers whatsoever (though they were undoubtedly grateful that she did). She originally wrote ''Strong Poison'', introducing the character of novelist Harriet Vane, because she was tired of Literature/LordPeterWimsey and wanted to get rid of him by marrying him off -- at the time it was held that a detective-series hero could not be married without breaking the 'rules' of the genre. However, when Sayers finished drafting the novel she realized that in Harriet she had created a character with more integrity and interior reality than her series hero had, so she had to go back and write almost as many novels again featuring Lord Peter before he reached a point of psychological complexity and reality enough that she could feel comfortable letting Harriet marry him. She then wrote a novel about their honeymoon and had plans to continue the series further, but moved onto other projects and never completed the next manuscript. The next manuscript was completed much later, in true Franchise Zombie fashion, by Jill Paton Walsh, who then proceeded to add three novels of her own to the series.
* David Morrell's novel ''Literature/FirstBlood'' featured a former Vietnam veteran John Rambo, who is shot in the back of his head with a shotgun at the end of the novel. Rambo dies, period. Then they changed the ending in the Stallone movie and Rambo survived. David Morrell then went on and wrote the second and third Rambo novels that were based on the movies. He even stated in the beginning of his second Rambo novel that in his original book Rambo died, but the new book is based on a movie and now Rambo lives (a change for which, in the DVD commentary for the first movie, [[CreatorPreferredAdaptation Morrell gives his approval]]). A sort of disappointing moment to the author to write [[RecursiveAdaptation novelizations based on a movie based on his own original book.]]
* The end of the film adaptation of Jack Ketchum's Offspring was changed specifically so that the breakout character would survive and be able to appear in the sequel, ''Film/TheWoman'', co-written by Ketchum and director (of The Woman, not Offspring) Lucky [=McKee=].
* Something similar happened with the ''{{Series/House Of Cards|UK}}'' novels. Both of the first two books end with Urquhart defeated (in the first he jumps to his death on being exposed, on the second he is left facing an election defeat), only for the TV adaptations to end with him triumphant (throwing the journalist who would have exposed him to his death and easily winning an election). The books then carry on from the TV version instead of the earlier books.
* It's easy to notice the numerous times John D. Fitzgerald tried to end ''Literature/TheGreatBrain'' books. The first and longest book ends with Tom suddenly reforming out of nowhere, but the second book reveals this was just a ruse to get a new bicycle for Christmas. ''That'' book ends with Tom being PutOnABus to the Academy in Salt Lake City, and the third book focuses on John getting a new adopted brother and saving him from an outlaw, while the fourth focuses on Tom's adventures at the Academy, and the fifth focuses on Tom's adventures upon returning home after his first year. That book ends with Tom being put on "trial" and told all the kids in the town will give him the silent treatment if he swindles anyone again. But then came a sixth and seventh book, which placed an academy right there in Adenville (avoiding rehashing the fourth book) and having Tom get sneakier at his plots so as to avoid invoking his suspended sentence. The seventh book ends with Tom turning thirteen and... um... "discovering girls", losing interest in his old plots, and even ''that'' book seems to leave the door open for yet more sequels at the very end (though Fitzgerald died before he could finish them).
* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey said that [[Literature/DragonridersOfPern Pern]] began as a short story and took on a life of its own. "One million words later, I'm not allowed to stop!"
* Douglas Adams ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' trilogy lasted five books. ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'' and ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'' were actually meant to be the end of the series. The latter had mixed reviews and was more noted for the absence of Zaphod and Trillian than it was for the introduction of a new character, Fenchurch. The following book, ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', actually ''was'' the end, but more complained about the introduction of unlikeable character Random ([[spoiler:Arthur and Trillian's daughter]]) than complained about the DownerEnding. Many wonder if this was Adams' way of getting back at fans who couldn't let go of the series. Adams also noted that the hard part of creating ''Hitchhiker's'' sequels was contriving a way to bring all the characters back together due to their tendency to go separate ways after each story. Many hardcore fans feel that he either lost interest in the series or said all that there was to say in the first two or three books. Creator/EoinColfer (of ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' fame) wrote a sixth book, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' that undid the ending of the fifth. Many hardcore Adams fans simply chose not to read this book.
* The formula of the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series was already getting thin as early as ''Anne of Avonlea'', with the introduction of new adoptees [[ReplacementScrappy Davy]] and [[CousinOliver Dora]], and Creator/LMMontgomery firmly intended to end the series with ''Rilla of Ingleside'' in 1921, following a dispute with her publisher. Instead, the success of a 1934 movie adaptation of the original book persuaded her to write two {{Interquel}}s - ''Anne of Windy Poplars'' (1936), ''Anne of Ingleside'' (1939) - over a decade after their predecessors, and three decades after the first book.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'' was originally only going to be one book, ''Into the Wild''. It became a trilogy, which later turned into a six-book series. These books did so well that the publisher requested a sequel trilogy, which was later expanded into a full six-book arc. Followed by, let's see, four additional arcs (with yet another arc confirmed by WordOfGod), ten super editions, five guidebooks, thirteen mangas, and twelve novellas. And counting.
* Creator/AgathaChristie continued writing novels and stories featuring Literature/HerculePoirot well into the 1970s, by which point the quality of the works and Christie's interest in the character had waned - and by which point the character was well over a hundred years old. Christie's death in 1976 followed Poirot's death a year earlier in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', but then in 2014, the first of a series of authorized novels by Sophie Hannah was published.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' ran for twenty years and maintained a fairly consistent groove throughout, thanks to a revolving cast and keeping the focus off -- for the most part -- its characters. The wheels finally started to come off when several cast members all left at once, and Sam Waterston's ADA was finally promoted to DA. The new cast didn't gel like the old cops and lawyers, and the show ended in 2010. Producer Dick Wolf has said in interviews that his intent was to make L&O run longer than ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'', but he later conceded that the series had "moved onto the history books". His other ''L & O'' series, ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', also receives cries of this and for similar reasons.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' became one of these after season seven, when the original writers left and the name becomes an ArtifactTitle.
* The 90's sitcom ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' was this. Lasting from 1996 to 2003, the series lasted beyond Sabrina's teenage years, and spun off two animated shows. [[WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries The first animated series]] generally gets some sympathy, but the second does not.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' creator Haim Saban considers the Disney era of his franchise (''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' to ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'') to be a personal zombie period to him, saying in his own words that "Disney did not develop the property and exploit it in the way that it deserves." Showrunner Jonathan Tzachor deems only ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' to ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' as "counting", but then again, Jonathan's concept of canonicity is strange. [[note]] To clarify, Jonathan considers each season to be in its own continuity[[/note]].
* Reportedly, Chris Carter wanted to end ''Series/TheXFiles'' after the sixth or seventh season, but had to stick around with it because Fox threatened to keep making it, with or without him. This didn't stop him from making another movie years after the series had ended, and two miniseries years after that.
* Norman Lear planned to end ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' after Season 8, with Mike and Gloria moving to California (thereby eliminating the intrafamilial conflict that was the heart of the show). But CBS ended up dangling a huge salary increase and production deal to Carroll O'Connor, and the show not only limped along for another season (without Lear), but was {{retool}}ed as ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which itself lasted four seasons.
* Creator/JohnCleese was reportedly frustrated about the later seasons of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', as he felt they had used up all of their original ideas, but the rest of the team carried on for a single season of the show, which was renamed ''Monty Python''.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' is considered to have become this after the departure of Creator/SteveCarell, which led to Michael Scott, ''the boss of the office'', being written out of the show. The series continued for two more seasons without its main character.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' creator Creator/BillLawrence wanted to end the series several times, but was forced to keep going.
** The first time this happened was after Season 6. In an example of [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]] this meant the show shrugged off what would have been a quite depressing ending for JD and Elliot into a much better Season 7 & 8, rebuilding their relationship and fixing it for good, complete with a fairytale GrandFinale as the final episode of Season 8.
** Then instead of doing a proper SpinOff, the executives kept the show as "Scrubs" for Season 9 despite a massive change of setting and major cast changes. Any executive with a brain would have distanced the SpinOff more from the original, but they refused, and the "Med School" PostScriptSeason was hated by the fanbase for ruining the show, many refused to watch it entirely and the show was finally cancelled.
* The show ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' started to become this as the creator always seemed to announce that the current season would be the last, only for Showtime to renew it midway through that season.
* ''Series/AnneOfGreenGables'' falls into this category. As he describes in the DVD featurette "Kevin Sullivan's Classic", producer/writer/director Kevin Sullivan only intended to do one mini-series adapting the original novel in 1985. Afterwards, the network pressured him to make a sequel, though he chose to only loosely adapt some later Anne novels rather than pick one for a close adaptation. Afterwards, demand remained high so inspired by a short story collection by LM Montgomery he created the long-running series ''Road to Avonlea''. In 2000, more than a decade after the second mini-series, he reassembled the original cast for a wholly original, DarkerAndEdgier sequel set during World War I (completely messing up the continuity of both the first two movies and books). Sullivan couldn't let Anne rest, however, and brought her back in a near-fantasy animated reimagining, ''Anne: Journey to Green Gables'' in 2005 (which added a Disney-like villain to the story), and in 2008 he produced a live-action movie ''A New Beginning'', now set in World War II as a middle-aged Anne reflects on her life before the events of the first movie. Fortunately, except for the animated film which has fallen into obscurity, the frequent revisits to Avonlea to Sullivan's credit are generally critically lauded and popular with viewers (if criticized by Kindred Spirits--the Anne equivalent of Trekkies).
* Tony Garnett, producer of ''Series/BetweenTheLines'', publicly said that he felt the third and final series of the show fell into this trap when he was asked why he decided not to make a third season of his popular series ''Series/ThisLife''.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Eric Kripke only intended the show to run for five seasons, which is why the fifth ends on what is, by all appearances, a GrandFinale involving the Winchesters averting Armageddon itself. It has since run for over ''twice'' that long, and season eleven was about ''God'' reconciling with his [[SiblingYinYang sister]]. There really isn't much room to maneuver on the SuperWeight tier chart.
** The show officially [[FinaleSeason came to an end]] with its ''fifteenth'' season. The final BigBad? [[spoiler: God himself. Yeah.]]
* WordOfGod has stated in various sources that ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' was meant to end with season 5. It had a very distinct ending that pretty much closed the story out. But then UPN picked it up for two additional seasons.
* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' was supposed to have ended after five seasons. An additional three were produced, minus Creator/DonKnotts and with a tired Andy Griffith before both he and Creator/RonHoward left at which point the show was retitled ''Series/MayberryRFD'' and shambled along until UsefulNotes/TheRuralPurge finally put it out of its' misery.
* ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' was not expected to last as long as it did. The original creator left after season 2 and the lead actress was gone after season 3. Creator/RoseMcGowan expected to only be around for two seasons when she was brought in as a replacement for Creator/ShannenDoherty (the length of her original contract). She and the show ended up staying around for five additional seasons. Rose has been quoted as saying "each year ''Charmed'' would get renewed and each year I would cry". The seventh season was expected to be the last, the finale of that even Book Ending the pilot episode. But an eighth season was ordered - also intending to set up spin-offs featuring Billie, Chris and Wyatt. Season 8 was the definite end, though a continuation in comic book form later resurfaced.
* ''Series/CSICyber'' had the misfortune of trying to revive the failing ''[[CashCowFranchise CSI]]'' franchise. This came as the long-running spin-offs had already shuttered and the flagship series was closing out, complete with an after-series special to tie up loose ends. ''Cyber'' [[InNameOnly sacrificed many significant elements]] from the other series, most significantly ''[[ArtifactTitle actually featuring a CSI department]]'', and failed to outlive the original series by more than a year.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' was only intended to run for two years. [[LongRunner We all know how that went out]]. It turned out the creators stumbled upon an anthology series format so flexible and interesting that they could do virtually anything with it and the show would work. It didn't stop ExecutiveMeddling and newspaper reviews declaring the series to have run its course and have no further life when:
** Lead actor Creator/WilliamHartnell left the series and the Doctor was recast with Creator/PatrickTroughton (who proved just as popular with the public and more popular with the fandom);
** The Daleks got KilledOffForReal and ExiledFromContinuity (just make the Cybermen into the Doctors' nemesis race instead!);
** All three lead actors departed at the same time just as general TV production was moving into colour ({{Retool}} the show into a spy show set on Earth, in colour, with new actors);
** The Doctor regenerated from a very popular suave secret agent character into a bug-eyed comedy lunatic played by [[Creator/TomBaker some bricklayer they pulled off the street]] (who proved to be even more popular than his predecessor);
** The Doctor regenerated from a very popular bug-eyed comedy lunatic who had been the only thing anyone wanted to watch into [[Creator/PeterDavison a well-known drama actor]] just as the show was moved into a twice-weekly soap opera slot (but the actor was very good and the scheduling reversed as soon as possible);
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Warriors of the Deep]]" [[TroubledProduction happened]], inciting Michael Grade to personally start trying to kill the show off for being an embarrassing 1960s relic (which is what eventually did it in, although it did take him five years and several false starts).
** Creator/StevenMoffat intended his tenure as showrunner and the Twelfth Doctor (Creator/PeterCapaldi) era to end with Twelve's regeneration in the two-part Series 10 finale [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]] / [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], whereupon new showrunner Creator/ChrisChibnall would introduce the Thirteenth Doctor (Creator/JodieWhittaker) in the 2017 ChristmasEpisode. But Chibnall wasn't interested in that idea, and when Moffat learned the BBC would no longer greenlight ''Who'' Christmas specials if a year were skipped, he came up with [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]] to keep the tradition going and revised the season finale: in "The Doctor Falls", Twelve [[spoiler: ''starts'' to regenerate but holds it back due to no longer wanting to change]], setting up his '''actual''' GrandFinale in "Twice Upon a Time".
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'': Once the television show reached six seasons and it was clear that its star, Creator/AdrianPaul, would not be returning for another one, Panzer devoted the entire season to auditioning female leads for a potential spin-off. Paul does not appear in nearly half of Season Six's episodes. His contract did not require him to be present for more than six episodes out of the remaining thirteen. The producers introduced a revolving door of potential Highlanderettes to don Paul's mantle, including Claudia Christian of later ''Babylon 5'' fame, but none of them fit the bill. The role eventually went to a supporting character played by Elizabeth Gracen. After all that turmoil, ''HighlanderTheRaven'' bombed spectacularly since nobody involved (from the writers to the producers) had any clue where to take the new series; and to top it all off, Gracen's character wasn't even originally written as heroic.
* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'': the show's premise centers on Brody, a returning POW who is suspected of being a turncoat by Carrie Mathison, a bipolar CIA agent. By season 3, Brody's story has petered out, [[spoiler:and he dies at the end of the season]], but from Season 4 on, the show continues to follow the CIA careers of the remaining characters. Notably, the Israeli series upon which it was based stays focused on the POW story for its entire run.
* When ''Series/TopOfThePops'' was launched at the beginning of 1964, it was only intended to run for a few weeks. As a weekly series, it lasted until the end of July 2006 when, following a slump in ratings, it bowed out in an hour-long special featuring presenters from across the decades. However, classic episodes (minus those [[BannedEpisode withdrawn in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal]]) are repeated on BBC Four and the ChristmasEpisode remains part of the BBC's festive schedule more than a decade after the main series ended.
* What (in theory) Disney attempts to avert by only keeping shows for 3 seasons. An unspoken rule of thumb for almost any Disney show since 2000 has been it won't go beyond three seasons (what the actual episode count of a "season" is up in the air), leading to shows that are extremely popular being suddenly cancelled. However, this trope has been fiddled with, where after the three season stint they create a spin-off featuring most if not all the same characters, just on a new set (ie, ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' became ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'' or how ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' turned into ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'')
* ''Series/PoliceCameraAction'' became this in 2010 but RealLifeWritesThePlot played a part; due to its original host Alastair Stewart no longer being involved after a RoleEndingMisdemeanor, and Adrian Simpson leaving in August 2008 after a short-lived {{Revival}} from September 2007 to July 2008 (10 months 1 week and 5 day), it eventually lost most of what made it popular and became too DarkerAndEdgier with this 2010 series, plus the police footage became TheArtifact and it was no longer presenter links as a FramingDevice, which alienated some of the audience. At the time, on social media (when that was still in its infancy), some fans called for a SoftReboot or ContinuityReboot to effectively bring back the franchise for a new audience and fix the show's problems, as the show was back in the public consciousness via re-runs some 5 years earlier and its fandom returned after 3 years off the air in 2005.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' is technically this, although Creator/LorneMichaels has gone back on his original plan. Originally, when Season 5 wrapped, Lorne (along with the rest of the cast and writing staff) wanted to end the show, at least for a few years, and return when they felt less burned out- same cast, same writers (more or less). NBC had [[ExecutiveMeddling other ideas]], committing the nearly-fatal mistake of putting Jean Doumanian (the producer formerly in charge of booking musical guests) at the helm and hiring a completely new cast and writing staff. [[SeasonalRot The show suffered horribly]], causing Season 6 to be thought of to this day as the worst season in 40+ years. After Jean was fired, Dick Ebersol took over for the next four seasons, keeping the show afloat (thanks in no small part to Creator/EddieMurphy and Joe Piscopo, the only holdovers from the Doumanian era). When Ebersol began talking about dropping the "live" aspect of the show, Lorne Michaels returned, and after a season of fumbling, brought the show back to its original popularity. The rest is history: he's still Executive Producer as of 2018, with no plans to end the show anytime soon.
* ''Series/TheBigComfyCouch'' became this when it was renewed not once, but ''twice'' well after the end of its first 65-episode run, thanks to ExecutiveMeddling to bring the total number of episodes up to 100. The last season, in which [[TheOtherDarrin Ramona Gilmour-Darling replaced]] Creator/AlysonCourt as Loonette, is considered by most fans to be the worst.

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/TaylorSwift's ''Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008''' released in 2020 was recorded during the 2008 promotional tour of ''Music/{{Fearless}}'' and was released by Swift's old label Big Machine Record (whom she had a huge and public falling out regarding the right of the masters of her albums during the time she was with them, one of which is ''Fearless'') without her permission. She completely denounced the album and called it "tasteless" and "shameless greed in the time of coronavirus".

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' is a prime example of this trope. While Jim Davis, the creator of the comic, maintains creative control and signs the strips, he now only does the writing and rough sketches while his assistants do the inking and coloring. This is due to the fact that Jim Davis now spends most of his time supervising production and merchandising his characters through his company Paws, Inc. And as of 2016 he is currently an adjunct professor at Ball State University, his alma mater, meaning that he will most likely devote less time to his strip he created forty years ago.
* ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS'' is a victim of this. Hank Ketcham debuted the strip in 1951, and in 1994 he retired and handed it off to Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton. Since then, the character has become the TropeNamer for MenaceDecay. Where Dennis was once a hyperactive terror with a mean streak who adults genuinely disliked (and for good reason!), the current iteration of the character has more in common with the kids in ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus''.

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Super Soaker'' has been this ever since Hasbro disbanded Larami in 2002 and put its Nerf team in charge of the Super Soaker brand.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
%%* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' has been a zombie since EA disbanded Westwood.
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** The ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series [[SeriesFauxnale was supposed to end]] with ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX5 X5]]'', and then progress to the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series in the future. However, the series continued without Creator/KeijiInafune's knowledge into ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX6 X6]]'', and his only input afterwards was ''[[VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX Maverick Hunter X]]'' and minor designer's advice regarding [[VideoGame/MegaManX7 Axl]]. [[note]]In fact, it got to the point that when Capcom proposed ''[[VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission Command Mission]]'', he adamantly refused.[[/note]] This was somewhat difficult plot-wise, as ''X5'' ended with Zero [[spoiler:dead. In fairness, ''Mega Man Zero'' would have had to answer that particular red flag itself to even be a thing, but WordOfGod states Inafune had to alter at least some of his initial plans to accomodate ''X6'']]. ''X6'' then ended with him in the capsule not supposed to be opened until ''Mega Man Zero'' making his [[ContinuitySnarl appearances in the next two games awkward]]. Players were then told to think of the scene in ''X6'' as a [[DistantFinale bonus ending for the series]], rather than something happening directly after the game.
** The ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series were each supposed to end after three games each, but ''Battle Network'' lasted for three more games, and ''Zero'' for one more. You can see that the endings of the third game of each series were meant as the end of each. ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero4 Zero 4]]'' manages to work with this due to the BigBad still being around at the end of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero3 Zero 3]]'', so the final game was dedicated to solving that little hiccup and setting up the next SequelSeries to prevent this from happening again.
* Both ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' and ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' were the products of friend developers Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, as mascot platformers for the original [=PlayStation=]. Both then split off from Universal Interactive Studios for different reasons (Naughty Dog's contract with Universal ran out, while Insomniac was unpleased with the limitations of Spyro's character designs and walked off on their own) and moved onto different styles of games (''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' and ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank''), leaving their old mascots to their owner (Universal, but eventually Creator/{{Activision}} as a result of several corporate acquisitions and mergers) who then ran both of them into the ground with a wide variety of games of variable quality, with the ''Crash'' series eventually undergoing a long hiatus and Spyro being retooled into a part of the ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' franchise. However, both series were given a total {{revival}} in the late-2010's, with remakes and new games that were beloved by critics and fans alike, and sold extremely well.
* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' has become this as a result of ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarryMagnaCumLaude'', released in 2004 for the PC, [=PS2=], and Xbox. It was created without any input from series creator Al Lowe and he criticizes the game on his website. The sequel, ''Box Office Bust'' (at which point the franchise isn't in the property of Activision anymore because it didn't print money), has received even further drubbing from critics.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' became this after the [[UsefulNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 16-bit era]]. After the series hit its peak with ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', Sonic Team, burned out on their namesake series, focused on making original titles. Meanwhile, Sega, not willing to retire their cash cow, tried to continue the ''Sonic'' franchise without them to no success. After Sega Technical Institute's[[note]]Who made ''VideoGame/ComixZone'' for the Genesis[[/note]] ''VideoGame/SonicXtreme'' -- Sonic's intended VideoGame3DLeap on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn -- [[{{Vaporware}} failed to make it to shelves]], Sega finally got Sonic Team back to give the series [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure a proper 3D title]] for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast. Even then, ''Sonic Adventure'' (which had Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima on board) was the last game with any of Sonic's creators working directly on a ''Sonic'' game. Ohshima left Sega after ''Sonic Adventure'' finished development in 1998 to form Creator/{{Artoon}} for unknown reasons. Yasuhara didn't participate in ''Sonic Adventure'' because he had quit Sonic Team after ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'', ultimately leaving Sega for Creator/NaughtyDog in 2002. Naka himself left Sega in 2006 to form Prope as he was tired of [[KickedUpstairs being stuck with (executive) producer roles]] for original [=IPs=] made by Sonic Team. The series sticks around as it is one of Sega's few remaining [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], but it has had wild ups and downs since then. (Notably, the best received game in the series, ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', was not made by Sonic Team but is essentially a FanRemake compilation of the previous games of the series.)
* ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'' was never supposed to have a sequel, [[WriterRevolt according to the creator of the original game]]. The sequel lampshades this by essentially making the plot about the King Of All Cosmos gaining tons of fans due to the success of the first game and deciding to solve their various problems to become even more popular.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** Creator/HideoKojima originally didn't intend to direct any ''Metal Gear'' sequels beyond ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', but due to the immense success of the game, he was pressured by his superiors to direct ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'', which featured a [[GainaxEnding twist ending]] that he never intended to explain away. Afterward, he wrote the basic outline for ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}'', with the intention of handing it out to another director, but no one was willing to take the job. The same thing happened with ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'': although he had already named a successor, fans demanded that he return to personally direct the game (which included death threats). And as the entry on WriterRevolt for that game shows, he didn't take it nicely. And the series is ''still going on''.
** He also didn't intend to make a sequel for the original ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear|1}}'' but a coworker who developed ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge'' convinced him to make a real one. According to Kojima, by the time they reached their stop, he'd already had the entire plot of the canonical ''Metal Gear 2'' mapped out in his head.
** As of 2015, Konami announced that Kojima would be leaving the company for good after ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'', yet they say they wish to make further ''Metal Gear'' games. Kojima's response was to create a controversial moment in the final chapter that both altered the canon of the original game and was also a cop-out to the epic finale that fans were clamoring for. It's also a symbolic representation of how ''Metal Gear'' had a fair chance of continuing past its Kojima finale, but that you'd have to settle for something less than Kojima. Unintentionally symbolic is that the first ''Metal Gear'' title after Kojima's departure is a [[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive spinoff title about zombies]].
* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' was briefly this. Sony and Singletrac split up after ''Twisted Metal 2'', resulting in Sony owning the ''Twisted Metal'' name but Singletrac owning the engine. As a result, Sony had NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup, and the third and fourth games received [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks relatively poor reviews]]. Luckily, former Singletrac employees founded Incog Inc. (and later Eat Sleep Play) and Sony handed them back the series from ''Twisted Metal Black'' onwards.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Rumors suggest the franchise was only intended to consist of two games, but scheduling issues forced Creator/{{Bungie}} to release the original ''Halo 2'' in a semi-complete state (only about 3/4 done). Then ''VideoGame/Halo3'' was billed as the big finale of the series, but was followed by the GaidenGame ''[[VideoGame/Halo3ODST ODST]]'' and the prequel ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' (plus the RTS spin-off ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', a DolledUpInstallment made by another studio, [[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-27-halo-wars-bungie-saw-it-as-whoring-out-franchise-says-ensemble-founder to Bungie's disapproval]]). Bungie jumped ship and left the series with Microsoft subsidiary Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries' hands who then [[TrilogyCreep started a new "saga" of FPS games]] with ''VideoGame/Halo4''. Guess the fight wasn't quite finished yet, huh? That the IP was not only given to a company that was set up for the express purpose of creating new ''Halo'' games, but is even named after a character in the series, has inevitably lead to claims from people that they are little more then a "franchise farm" for the series.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' had a brief go at this. The original developers had long since moved on to other projects, and they actually retained rights to all the creative content apart from the name "Star Control". The publisher wanted another game out in the series, even if it lacked any familiar content that would tie it in with the previous games. In the end, the developers gave in, figuring that it was the lesser evil for the series. The game was actually made by completely different people, though. Oh, and there was a novel too, which most people prefer to forget about.
* Creator/GunpeiYokoi intended for ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' to end with ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' in order to have a neat, contained trilogy. After his death, the franchise was revived in 2002 with ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', and new games have come out at a steady pace ever since. These games were all fairly well-received (other than ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce Federation Force]]''). ''Metroid Prime'' specifically was hailed by most as a worthy successor to ''Super'', with some going as far as naming it as one of the greatest games of all time.
* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' is an interesting example as it turned into a zombie but was able to remain competitive with its SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/RockBand'', as well. After Harmonix and Activision parted ways following ''Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s'', the series reins were given to ''Tony Hawk'' developer Neversoft (whose first entry was ''Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock'') and Harmonix moved on to MTV Games in order to begin producing the ''Rock Band'' series. ''Guitar Hero'' and ''Rock Band'' would remain DuelingGames for three years until 2010, when ''Warriors of Rock'' finally saw Activision shelve any future projects in the series... for five years until they announced ''Guitar Hero Live'' in order to compete with Harmonix's ''Rock Band 4''.
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' started to show signs of this after ''A Crack in Time'', which is regarded as one of the best games in the franchise, released. The following sequels, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankAll4One All 4 One]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFullFrontalAssault Full Frontal Assult]]'', were disliked by fans as they noticeably had weaker stories and were DenserAndWackier in tone, focusing on [[UnexpectedGameplayChange gimmicks instead of the usual third-person shooter]] gameplay, and [[ArtEvolution redesigning most of the main cast]].
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara stated that ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' were intended to be the final games, and declared that "once we entered the twenty-first century, it would be time for me to do something else entirely." [[CashCowFranchise Oodles of cash]] must have changed his mind, as the series has continued since with no signs of stopping.
* Upon its release in 1995, ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' turned out as the biggest success for developer Team 17, [[CashCowFranchise which keeps riding on it to this day]]: little of their production since hasn't been related to the ''Worms'' franchise, which has currently overly 20 titles between main episodes, expansions and spin-offs on various platforms. Unfortunately, most if not all the episodes after the earlier ones (''especially'' [[PolygonCeiling the 3D ones]]) haven't been as good, not even 2012's ''Worms Revolution'' which was intended as a return to form. It is telling that ''Worms Armageddon'' is still considered the best episode despite releasing at the TurnOfTheMillennium.
* Various interviews from developers at Creator/CoreDesign have shown that the first four ''Franchise/TombRaider'' games were genuine attempts to improve on each entry, whether they could be considered to have succeeded or not; however, the [[ItWasHisSled "Lara dies"]] twist at the end of ''VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation'' was a serious attempt to either finish the series or buy time for a next-gen debut. But then they were talked into developing ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'', a game where Lara's closest friends reminisce about Lara's previously unseen adventures, as an easy moneygrab; and being distracted by that quite possibly had a small part in the failure of ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderTheAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]''. Of course, it managed to recover after the franchise moved over to Crystal Dynamics' hands and [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]].
* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series eventually became this for Creator/MasahiroSakurai. Originally a side project featuring completely original characters, Sakurai's boss Creator/SatoruIwata suggested that he put Creator/{{Nintendo}} characters into the game. The game became an international hit, but Sakurai felt that more could be done with the game, so the sequel ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' was developed with a much more lavish budget (despite being developed in 13 months). Shortly after the completion of ''Melee'' as well as ''VideoGame/KirbyAirRide'', given that Sakurai is also the creator of the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' video game series, he departed from HAL to form his own studio, Sora Ltd. stating that he was dissatisfied with the "sequel process" at HAL and the gaming industry in general. Eventually, though, he made two more ''Smash'' games while at Sora in spite of this. He later came out and said that every ''Smash'' game past [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 the original]] was developed under the expectation that he wouldn't make any more ''Smash'' games, and that he no longer has any desire to make any more past ''Smash 4''. [[FlipFlopOfGod He then made]] ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', and later stated that he would keep working on the series for as long as Nintendo wanted him to. (And, considering it's one of the company's biggest {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s, it's hard to imagine they ever wouldn't.) Sakurai is also [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld no longer involved]] in the creation of newer ''Kirby'' games. Note that though ''Kirby'' is technically a franchise zombie, it lacks all the negative aspects of Franchise Zombie as many of the newer ''Kirby'' games are [[MyRealDaddy as good or better than the older games]] to longtime fans of the series.
* ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'' went dormant after the third game, which was released in 2004. After the second game, the lead developer, Chris Sawyer, handed control of the IP to Creator/{{Atari}}. In 2012, Atari decided to dust off the franchise and release a number of below average to very poor games under its name. Among these title included a 3DS spinoff with stripped down features, two separate microtransaction-heavy {{Freemium}} mobile games (the first one, the confusingly titled ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon 4 Mobile'', ''initially had a price tag''), a match-3 mobile game, and a VR rail shooter for some reason. The most infamous releases of the series are ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon World'', a game which jumped between three development teams and was rushed to release a day before its (much more well-recieved) competitor, ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster'', [[ObviousBeta with predictable results]], and ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon Adventures'', an investor-driven title for the Nintendo Switch where Atari directly asked people to invest in the development of the game for an opportunity to receive a share of its sales, with the end product being an extremely low-effort port of a mobile game that was a port of ''World'', with no indication if any of the investors got their money's worth. The only releases that were met with positive reception were ports of the first three games, and with such a terrible track record of new games, it seems that Atari is only using the series name as a shameless CashCowFranchise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise was originally intended by Shu Takumi to end with the third entry, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]'' back in 2004. As of this writing, there has since been three mainline entries and several spin-offs following it and the franchise shows no signs of stopping in the near future. The games after ''Trials and Tribulations'', while not regarded to be ''bad'', are largely regarded as being inferior to the original trilogy by many fans and critics.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/NeuroticallyYours'' started in 2003 and for 8 years, the series was about Germaine struggling with her life and her own self while Foamy belittled her for being stupid and ranted on about the current idiotic problems in the world. The series was starting to show it was becoming stale after a while, but the creator was making money off of the show and needed the show to keep running since he had to make a living somehow. Rather than keep the show strictly formula, the creator decided to give the series a reboot to introduce new storylines and new characters in order to keep the series fresh.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is a complicated case, given what was just 6 episodes became 10, then a 19 episode season, which just kept going, all on the creator's choosing; Creator/RoosterTeeth have stated that as long as people want and watch the show, it will continue (neatly summed up by [[http://areyoumakingmoreredvsblue.com/ areyoumakingmoreredvsblue.com]]). Creator Burnie Burns concluded the ongoing plot on Season 10, while having already decided to let one of the season's writers, Miles Luna, become the new showrunner. Miles was responsible for a new and popular story arc, ''The Chorus Trilogy'', that ended with such a GrandFinale that he couldn't find a way to properly follow that, leading to instead supervise an anthology season that would also serve to find who would continue the story. The chosen one, Joe Nicolosi, wrote two divisive seasons, that still led to a well-liked arc closer, ''Singularity'', under another writer and other directors. But then came a point where what could just be another PassingTheTorch instead made fans think it was not the same show they followed, as amid restructurings at Rooster Teeth, where Burnie and Miles left, and co-founder Creator/JoelHeyman, who also voiced the show's most popular character, was fired, the old characters were mostly ditched (only three appear) by the crew who took on season 18, ''Zero'', which to make matters worse was [[SeasonalRot very poorly received, often considered the worst season]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''[[{{Webcomic/Subnormality}} Abnormality]]'' talks about "The Zombie Years" that TV shows that go on for too long enter into in [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18696_the-lifespan-every-tv-show-ever-5Bcomic5D.html "The Complete Series: The Lifespan of a TV Show"]]:
-->'''''Beyond the 7th Season: The Zombie Years'''''\\
- ''Should it continue to air, the show will degenerate into a frightful, shambling corpse -- a mocking funhouse mirror reflection of what it once was, existing only to ghoulishly maintain the careers/merchandising empire of its sinister creators.''\\
- ''The characters are almost unrecognizable from their original incarnations, now merely grotesque, unthinking husks -- their personalities long since removed for easier manipulation.''\\
- ''Each season beyond the 7th cancels out one of the earlier good seasons in terms of the show's overall legacy -- 14 or more seasons rendering a show essentially '''undead'''.''\\
- ''If a given show is not gracefully canceled or otherwise brought to rest when its lifespan has clearly expired, the best thing to do is get a group of friends together, arm yourselves to the teeth with shotguns and chainsaws, and corner the offending production staff in a parking garage where they can be messily dispatched for the good of civilization. Either that or stop watching the show.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's Creator/DougWalker ended his long running web series in order to finally begin his next major project: WebVideo/DemoReel. As he felt it was his "dream project", Doug invested every dime he had into production only for it to [[ToughActToFollow fail in view counts]]. Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses struggled with the loss of viewers who stopped visiting the website with Critic gone. Demo Reel was then recast as a purgatory type state of being that would bring the Nostalgia Critic back. In his "Review Must Go On" commentary, Doug talked about how making Donnie Critic was to piss off demanding fans, reboot Critic has been literally called a zombie twice, and WebVideo/{{Welshy}} used his farewell to call out Doug for bowing down.
* Invoked by WebSite/SFDebris during his review of the infamous ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "A Night In Sickbay": "And yet it's still coming! It won't stop! '''How do you kill a Star Trek show that's already dead?!'''"
* WebVideo/EpicMealTime has various spin offs run by the members of the crew just so it isn't stale (and [[MoneyDearBoy to be fair, they always said they were in it for the money]]). Despite the departure of the beloved Muscles Glasses and fans complaining it isn't as fun as it used to be, the show still goes on.
%% ZCE * Asalieri2 satirizes this in his video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ixirVjAEcI "Death of a Youtuber"]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' was supposed to end after the third season and TheMovie, but popular demand has kept it going since, even with Stephen Hillenburg being less involved with future seasons. Many complain over the [[{{Flanderization}} supposed deterioration of the main cast's personality traits]] and [[SeasonalRot the decline of writing quality/general aimlessness of the series these days]]; but, of course, if you asked any current young child (anybody born 2004+, when the Movie and the show were ''supposed'' to wrap it up), the series is absolutely fine enough to go on for many more years. And, of course, [=SpongeBob=] remains Nickelodeon's most popular cartoon, running over 20 years straight now with that distinction. However, the show would eventually WinBackTheCrowd when Stephen Hillenburg returned to the show in 2015. [[OutlivedItsCreator The show still continues after Hillenburg's death]], with an aggressive push towards spin-off series.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Creator/MattGroening stated in an interview that it was getting harder to keep the series fresh, and that while it would be around for the next couple of seasons at least, he wanted it to leave on a high note. A few weeks later, he did a public recantation: ''The Simpsons'' was fine, and would be continuing for the foreseeable future. That was in '''1999'''. Quite a number of episodes around season 7-11 made the fact that the writers thought the show would be on its way out into a common gag. Troy claims in one that the series would go on until it became unprofitable, another episode noted that the next few seasons would feature hilariously outlandish plots common to shows on the verge of cancellation, and Season 11's "Behind the Laughter" flat-out proclaims "This'll be the last season." (This is also why a large number of episodes in the Oakley/Weinstein era end on a sunset.) As of this writing in 2022, the show is currently on Season 33.
* Creator/CraigMcCracken wanted to end ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998''. Former Creator/CartoonNetwork executives said that no one would watch the reruns, so the show continued. Ironically, ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' was one of the network's highest-rated series... and it's 100% reruns. And once the show finally did end, Cartoon Network later made a LighterAndSofter [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016 reboot]] without any involvement from [=McCracken=] whatsoever.
* ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' was subject to this as well after [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna and Joseph Barbera]] left MGM, changing hands many times throughout the decades.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' and ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' were drastically retooled after the departure of their respective creators after Dexter's second season and Johnny Bravo's first. However, Johnny's creator Creator/VanPartible did return for the final season, while Dexter's creator Creator/GenndyTartakovsky worked only on a couple episodes "Chicken Scratch" and "Comedy of Feathers".
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' was created by a four-man group called Creator/ManOfActionStudios. After the series ended, the creative team continued the franchise with ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]'', both spearheaded by Glen Murakami and Creator/DwayneMcDuffie. Man of Action were also involved in the production of the two series, but when the franchise was expected to end with ''Ultimate Alien'', Man of Action left to focus on working ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', Creator/CartoonNetwork continued with the LighterAndSofter ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'', spearheaded by Derrick J. Wyatt, without the creators' involvement although the first two episodes were the last written by [=McDuffie=] before his death; [[FanonDiscontinuity fans seemed to dislike it]]. In 2016 an even [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 softer reboot]] began airing, which was at least produced by Man of Action this time around.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' was this after the second season of the show, when creator Creator/JohnKricfalusi got fired. The show was canceled after 5 seasons. It made a resurgence on Spike TV almost a decade later with Kricfalusi back at the helm briefly, but was canned again after the show tanked on account of its AudienceAlienatingPremise and [[KafkaKomedy overly dark humor]]. And then in 2021 another reboot was announced for Comedy Central, albeit without the now disgraced Kricfalusi.
* Creator/SethMacFarlane was asked about this in [[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44880176/ns/today-entertainment/#.TpdkHt4r27t an October 2011 interview]] (the question was if he planned ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' to be as long as the ''The Simpsons''). [=MacFarlane=] said that he didn't want ''Family Guy'' to be that long, and that he wanted to end the show in a high note, before it becomes stale. In the third ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody, the opening crawl starts out and then suddenly cuts in with something to the effect of "You know what? Screw this. We didn't even want to do a third one. [[BitingTheHandHumor FOX is making us because the first two did so well.]]"
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead''. Although Creator/MikeJudge doesn't like the last few seasons, claiming that they were forced on him by MTV, their supposed lack of quality is more of an InformedFlaw considering that the show remained hilariously funny right up to the GrandFinale. [[UnCanceled The short-lived 2011 revival]], on the other hand, does not fit as both Judge and MTV wanted it.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' was originally a minor character in a comic book series called ''Thimble Theater''. After Fleischer Studios lost control of the franchise, it continued directly under Paramount's banner for several years, before moving to other companies up until the beginning of the 1980's when they finally allowed the nearly at the time 50-year-old franchise to die... until a cyberpunk-set comic of Popeye that crashed very fast.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' ended by schedule after three seasons ''specifically'' to avoid this trope.
* Alex Hirsch ended ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' after two seasons to likewise avoid this problem when the show became critically acclaimed.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' suffered quite badly from this, as the show was cancelled ''three times'' by Nickelodeon, only [[{{Uncancelled}} to be brought back]] on the strength of reruns, each time adding a [[CousinOliver new character]] to try to keep the show fresh. Many people were displeased when Poof was created in the ''Fairly [=OddBaby=]'' special, but due him providing a new perspective on Timmy, Cosmo & Wanda as a surrogate son for the trio, [[FranchiseOriginalSin he was tolerated and not widely hated]]. When [[TheScrappy loathed characters Sparky]] & [[ParodySue Chloe]], however, both of whom were far more irritating and pointless additions to the show, were made, many fans felt the series long overstayed its welcome. The fact that Sparky [[ShooOutTheNewGuy was removed]] in Season 10 to be replaced by Chloe certainly didn't help matters, as it felt as if the creators were just adding new characters to cover up a lack of ideas. When the series was finally canceled for good in 2017, most fans considered it a MercyKill of a show that had [[SeasonalRot/TheFairlyOddParents long since became a shadow of its former self]]... Which didn't stop a new live-action series from being made in 2022.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210124060710/https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/south-park-renewed-three-seasons-comedy-central.html This article]] reveals that Parker and Stone had hoped to end their show earlier than the (at minimum) 26-season run (as well as 14 additional movies) that Creator/ComedyCentral had renewed the series for.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' was originally scheduled to conclude in season 10, before being renewed last minute in the spring of 2006 (the 11th season finale, explicitly designed as a ''series'' finale, was originally produced for it), then being renewed ''again'' during season 11 for two more seasons. It finally ended in 2009, although four more episodes (which were skipped over by Fox to make room for ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'') aired on Creator/AdultSwim in 2010.
[[/folder]]

''[[TheStinger Financial Gaaaaaiinnss....]]''

* The ''Stab'' series, the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional film franchise]] that serves as an analogue to ''Film/{{Scream}}'' within its universe. The first ''Stab'' was [[RippedFromTheHeadlines a fictionalized version]] of the events of the first ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', and it's implied that ''Stab 2'' (which is never seen) was based on the events of ''Film/{{Scream 2}}''. However, after ''Film/{{Scream 3}}'', which saw ''Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro'' experience a violently TroubledProduction, [[FinalGirl Sidney Prescott]] sued the producers of ''Stab'' to prevent any further use of the characters. Unfazed, they continued on anyway with a new cast, and by ''Film/{{Scream 4}}'' there have been seven ''Stab'' films of declining quality, the series having dropped all pretense of being BasedOnATrueStory; by the fifth film, they were throwing in TimeTravel. ''Film/Scream2022'' reveals the eighth ''Stab'' tried something different, but the results (which included Ghostface with a flamethrower!) wound up massively disliked. [[spoiler:To the point the killers are {{Loony Fan}}s slicing up Woodsboro so their killing spree can inspire a ''Stab'' movie hewing closer to the old ones.]]

* ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'': Hickman changed the status quo of the X-Men franchise, moving the cast from Xavier's mansion to the living island of Krakoa, and forming their own mutant nation. This came with many changes, such as working with their former enemies, more political intrigue, [[BackFromTheDead Resurrections Protocols]] to bring back the dead, and mutants succeeding instead of being hunted to extinction. Originally, the Krakoa era was meant to be a temporary thing, and only expanded if the idea proved popular, with Hickman having a planned story to tell. Seeds were already planted for various ways to end the era and reset the status quo, as well as plot points that were going to be expanded to move the overall narrative forward. However, the Krakoa era ended up being so popular with fans and writers that Hickman's plans had to be changed to accommodate the extended stay. The era would go on to outlast its creator, who would leave three years after coming aboard, rushing a conclusion that also threw in some things that were ''very clearly'' meant to be set up later.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Rumors suggest the franchise was only intended to consist of two games, but scheduling issues forced Creator/{{Bungie}} to release the original ''Halo 2'' in a semi-complete state (only about 3/4 done). Then ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' was billed as the big finale of the series, but was followed by the GaidenGame ''[[VideoGame/Halo3ODST ODST]]'' and the prequel ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' (plus the RTS spin-off ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', a DolledUpInstallment made by another studio, [[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-27-halo-wars-bungie-saw-it-as-whoring-out-franchise-says-ensemble-founder to Bungie's disapproval]]). Bungie jumped ship and left the series with Microsoft subsidiary Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries' hands who then [[TrilogyCreep started a new "saga" of FPS games]] with ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''. Guess the fight wasn't quite finished yet, huh? That the IP was not only given to a company that was set up for the express purpose of creating new ''Halo'' games, but is even named after a character in the series, has inevitably lead to claims from people that they are little more then a "franchise farm" for the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' was supposed to end after the third season and TheMovie, but popular demand has kept it going since, even with Stephen Hillenburg being less involved with future seasons. Many complain over the [[{{Flanderization}} supposed deterioration of the main cast's personality traits]] and [[SeasonalRot the decline of writing quality/general aimlessness of the series these days]]; but, of course, if you asked any current young child (anybody born 2004+, when the Movie and the show were ''supposed'' to wrap it up), the series is absolutely fine enough to go on for many more years. And, of course, [=SpongeBob=] remains Nickelodeon's most popular cartoon, running over 20 years straight now with that distinction. However, the show would eventually WinBackTheCrowd when Stephen Hillenburg returned to the show in 2015. [[{{OutlivedItsCreator}} The show still continues after Hillenburg's death]], with an aggressive push towards spin-off series.

* Creator/CraigMcCracken wanted to end ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. Former Creator/CartoonNetwork executives said that no one would watch the reruns, so the show continued. Ironically, ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' was one of the network's highest-rated series... and it's 100% reruns. And once the show finally did end, Cartoon Network later made a LighterAndSofter [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016 reboot]] without any involvement from [=McCracken=] whatsoever.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' was created by a four-man group called Creator/ManOfActionStudios. After the series ended, the creative team continued the franchise with ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]'', both spearheaded by Glen Murakami and Creator/DwayneMcDuffie. Man of Action were also involved in the production of the two series, but when the franchise was expected to end with ''Ultimate Alien'', Man of Action left to focus on working ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'', Creator/CartoonNetwork continued with the LighterAndSofter ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'', spearheaded by Derrick J. Wyatt, without the creators' involvement although the first two episodes were the last written by [=McDuffie=] before his death; [[Main/FanonDiscontinuity fans seemed to dislike it]]. In 2016 an even [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 softer reboot]] began airing, which was at least produced by Man of Action this time around.

* Naoko Takeuchi intended for the manga of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' to end after the Dark Kingdom arc, but the producers for the [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] persuaded her to continue. By the time you reach the Stars arc, Takeuchi's frustration is nearly palpable. The villains are, respectively, the Sailor Senshi of the ''Milky Way Galaxy'' and the force of pure Chaos, as if Takeuchi is daring her producers [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil to tell her to "top that."]]

* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise was originally intended by Shu Takumi to end with the third entry, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]'' back in 2004. There has since been three mainline and four spin-offs entries following it and the franchise shows no signs of stopping in the near future.

* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise was originally supposed to end with the third game, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]'' back in 2004. There has since been three other mainline entries and four spin-offs in the years following and the franchise shows no signs of stopping in the near future. While the later games are well regarded and there are enough new characters (including two additional protagonists in the form of Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes) to keep things fresh, this has resulted in several problems in later games, most notably with Phoenix Wright himself, who continues to be the main protagonist due to his popularity, (outside of ''[[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney Apollo Justice]]'', where he is DemotedToExtra in favor of the titular character), despite having little to go character wise post ''Trials and Tribulations'', resulting in later games having no real clue on what to do with him, with ''Apollo Justice'' infamously portraying him as a FallenHero and ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'' being accused of doing nothing interesting with his character and in the opinion of some, ignoring his CharacterDevelopment from the trilogy.

* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise was originally supposed to end with the third game, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]'' back in 2004. There has since been three other mainline entries and four spin-offs in the years following and the franchise shows no signs of stopping in the near future. While the later games are well regarded and there are enough new characters (including two additional protagonists in the form of Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes) to keep things fresh, this has resulted in several problems in later games, most notably with Phoenix Wright himself, who continues to be the main protagonist due to his popularity, (outside of ''[[VideoGame/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney Apollo Justice]]'', where he is DemotedToExtra in favor of the titular character), despite having little to go character wise post ''Trials and Tribulations'', resulting in later games having no real clue on what to do with him, with ''Apollo Justice'' infamously portraying him as a FallenHero and ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyDuelDestinies Duel Destinies]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneySpiritOfJustuce Spirit of Justice]]'' being accused of doing nothing interesting with his character and in the option of some, ignoring his CharacterDevelopment from the trilogy.

[[folder:Visual Novel]]
* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise was originally supposed to end with the third game, ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' back in 2004. There has since been three mainline entries and four spin-offs in the years following and the franchise shows no signs of stopping in the near future. While the later games are well regarded and there are enough new characters (including two additional protagonists in the form of Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes) to keep things fresh, this has resulted in several problems in later games, most notably with Phoenix Wright himself, who continues to be the main protagonist due to his popularity, (outside of ''[[VideoGame/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney Apollo Justice]]'', where he is DemotedToExtra in favor of the titular character), despite having little to go character wise post ''Trials and Tribulations'', resulting in later games having no real clue on what to do with him.

* ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'' went dormant the third game, which was released in 2004. The lead developer, Chris Sawyer, stepped out of game development and handed control of the IP to Creator/{{Atari}}. In 2012, Atari decided to dust off the franchise and release a number of very not-well-received games. The first was ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon 3D'' for the Nintendo 3DS, a game which was received negatively by fans for how stripped down it was compared to the originals. Then, it followed it up with the confusingly titled ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon 4 Mobile'', a microtransaction-filled mobile game that ''initially came with a price tag''. Following it was the infamous ''[=RollerCoaster=] Tycoon World'', a game that jumped between three development teams and was rushed to release a day before its (much more well-recived) competitor, ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster'', with disasterous results. Among other spin-offs with strange genre choices (a VR rail shooter and a match-3 puzzle), a controversial release was ''Rollercoaster Tycoon Adventures'', an investor-driven Nintendo Switch game where Atari directly asked people to fund its development as an investor, and the end result was an AshcanCopy; a lazy reskin of a mobile port of ''World'', with no indication if any of the investors got any returns from it. The only releases that were met with positive reception were ports of the first three games, and with such a terrible track record of new games, it seems that Atari is willing to keep the series as a shameless CashCowFranchise.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' suffered quite badly from this, as the show was cancelled ''three times'' by Nickelodeon, only [[{{Uncancelled}} to be brought back]] on the strength of reruns, each time adding a [[CousinOliver new character]] to try to keep the show fresh. Many people were displeased when Poof was created in the ''Fairly [=OddBaby=]'' special, but due him providing a new perspective on Timmy, Cosmo & Wanda as a surrogate son for the trio, [[FranchiseOriginalSin he was tolerated and not widely hated]]. When [[TheScrappy loathed characters Sparky]] & [[ParodySue Chloe]], however, both of whom were far more irritating and pointless additions to the show, were made, many fans felt the series long overstayed its welcome. The fact that Sparky [[ShooOutTheNewGuy was removed]] in Season 10 to be replaced by Chloe certainly didn't help matters, as it felt as if the creators were just adding new characters to cover up a lack of ideas. When the series was finally canceled for good in 2017, most fans considered it a MercyKill of a show that had [[SeasonalRot/TheFairlyOddParents long since became a shadow of its former self]].

* ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'' went dormant the third game, which was released in 2004. The lead developer, Chris Sawyer, stepped out of game development and handed control of the IP to Creator/{{Atari}}. In 2012, Atari decided to dust off the franchise and release a number of very not-well-received games. The first was ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D'' for the Nintendo 3DS, a game which was received negatively by fans for how stripped down it was compared to the originals. Then, it followed it up with the confusingly titled ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile'', a microtransaction-filled mobile game that ''initially came with a price tag''. Following it was the infamous ''Rollercoaster Tycoon World'', a game that jumped between three development teams and was rushed to release a day before its (much more well-recived) competitor, ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster'', with disasterous results. Among other spin-offs with strange genre choices (a VR rail shooter and a match-3 puzzle), a controversial release was ''Rollercoaster Tycoon Adventures'', an investor-driven Nintendo Switch game where Atari directly asked people to fund its development as an investor, and the end result was an AshcanCopy; a lazy reskin of a mobile port of ''World'', with no indication if any of the investors got any returns from it. The only releases that were met with positive reception were ports of the first three games, and with such a terrible track record of new games, it seems that Atari is willing to keep the series as a shameless CashCowFranchise.

* ''VideoGame/RollercoasterTycoon'' went dormant the third game, which was released in 2004. The lead developer, Chris Sawyer, stepped out of game development and handed control of the IP to Creator/{{Atari}}. In 2012, Atari decided to dust off the franchise and release a number of very not-well-received games. The first was ''Rollercoaster Tycoon 3D'' for the Nintendo 3DS, a game which was received negatively by fans for how stripped down it was compared to the originals. Then, it followed it up with the confusingly titled ''Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile'', a microtransaction-filled mobile game that ''initially came with a price tag''. The most well-known failure of the series is ''Rollercoaster Tycoon World'', a game that jumped between three development teams and was rushed to release a day before its much (more well-recived) ''VideoGame/PlanetCoaster'', with disasterous results. Other than two spin-offs of strange genre choices (a VR rail shooter and a match-3 puzzle), a controversial game in the series was ''Rollercoaster Tycoon Adventures'', an investor-driven Nintendo Switch game where Atari directly asked people to fund its development as an investor, delivering a product that was an AshcanCopy of a game; a lazy reskin of a mobile port of ''World'' with no indication any of the investors got any returns on it. The only releases that were met with positive reception were ports of the first three games, and with such a terrible track record of new games, it seems that Atari is willing to keep the series as a shameless CashCowFranchise.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Creator/MattGroening stated in an interview that it was getting harder to keep the series fresh, and that while it would be around for the next couple of seasons at least, he wanted it to leave on a high note. A few weeks later, he did a public recantation: ''The Simpsons'' was fine, and would be continuing for the foreseeable future. That was in '''1999'''. Quite a number of episodes around season 7-11 made the fact that the writers thought the show would be on its way out into a common gag. Troy claims in one that the series would go on until it became unprofitable, another episode noted that the next few seasons would feature hilariously outlandish plots common to shows on the verge of cancellation, and Season 11's "Behind the Laughter" flat-out proclaims "This'll be the last season." (This is also why a large number of episodes in the Oakley/Weinstein era end on a sunset.) As of this writing in 2021, the show is currently on Season 32.