History Main / FranchiseZombie

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E21ThreeMenAndAComicBook Three Men and a Comic Book]]"

* 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.

Increasingly common in the game industry. Modern games take such a large amount of time and money to develop compared to older games, thus making ''Smash Hit 3'' and a new intellectual property at the same time unfeasible. Some developers have remedied this by [[BTeamSequel buying or hiring other development companies to work on cash-in sequels while they work on their next big thing]].

* 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.

[[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]]

* 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".

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. It was intended to end after ''one season'' but continued to run until 2023, 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.

* ''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.\\

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov wrote a short story, "Literature/AuthorAuthor1964", 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.]]
[[/folder]]

[[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.
* 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:
--> ''I’ve told my family and so forth that if, after I kick the bucket, somebody takes over writing Fletches and Flynns under my name or in conjunction with my name or as a franchise, I will come back from the grave and twist their heads off.''
* The ''[[Literature/{{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.
* ''Literature/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 anime adaptation, 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 it felt like a PostscriptSeason.
[[/folder]]

* ''Franchise/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.

[[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]]

* The ''[[Literature/{{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.

* ''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.

* 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.

* ''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.

* ''Webanimation/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, Creator/MilesLuna, 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, ''[[WebAnimation/RedVsBlueZero Zero]]'', which to make matters worse was [[SeasonalRot very poorly received, often considered the worst season]].

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]]). Contrast CosmicDeadline, which is when a work is ended unexpectedly and forces the creator to come up with a messy and often unsatisfying conclusion for the story.

* 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 manga SpinOff where Stitch ends up in feudal Japan and befriends an adult male warlord instead, and by the following year, Disney rebranded the franchise to have it revolve all around Stitch due to his WolverinePublicity, to the point where only a handful of characters other than him get regular merchandise, and the other characters are more often included with him instead of being on their own. [[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.

* 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.

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.\\

* ''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]].

* ''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.

'''Homer:''' Because Mr. Cosby wanted to stop before the quality suffered.\\

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]]). Contrast CosmicDeadline, which is when end a work is ended unexpectedly and forces the creator to come up with a messy and often unsatisfying conclusion for the story.

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]]).

* 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.

* ''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.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has this as a major late-game reveal: within the world of ''V3'', the previous installments in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' franchise were the first of a ''very'' long series which [[MetaSequel 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.