History Main / SequelReset

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' series generally does this by setting the games so far apart from each other that it's just in time for Ganon to break free from his seal or someone to revive him. Other times, they name certain games as {{Prequel}}s to allow for Ganon to come back without undoing the ending of games. For direct sequels featuring the same Link as a previous game such as ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'', or even as far back as ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink Zelda II]]'', this is averted, as they either take place in different lands where the plot doesn't affect the main setting of Hyrule, or they simply just follow the previous story directly.

* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'':

* At the end of the first season of ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', Shana finally confesses that she's in love with Yuuji. However, in the interests of maintaining the WillTheyOrWontThey {{Tsundere}} {{UST}}, the second season reveals that he didn't hear her, and she can't get up the nerve to tell him again.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' ended with HappilyEverAfter, but the sequels seemed devoted to putting it off. ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' revealed there was an ''actual'' Prince Charming that was supposed to break the curse on Fiona, and that her royal parents were still around; after the lovers' honeymoon they're forced to meet her parents, causing another go-round of problems regarding Shrek's self-esteem. In ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'', Shrek had to get out of being king to return to the swamp. ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' resorted to ItsAWonderfulPlot.

* This is a summary of the plot in ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's New Island]]''. Turns out the DeliveryStork brought Mario and Luigi to the wrong house, so it hurries off to the real one. Before getting promptly attacked by Kamek out of absolutely nowhere all over again and leading to another adventure- the only difference is [[spoiler:for some reason Mario and Bowser’s adult counterparts are helping their baby counterparts because… reasons.]]

* This is a summary of the plot in ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's New Island]]''. Turns out the DeliveryStork brought Mario and Luigi to the wrong house, so it hurries off to the real one. Before getting promptly attacked by Kamek out of absolutely nowhere all over again.

* The manga version of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' ends with a bonus panel of Homura and Madoka reuniting after Homura's UncertainDoom at the anime's ending. The manga's telling of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaRebellion'' recontextualizes this scene as [[spoiler:a hallucination Homura saw while transforming into a witch]] as a result of the movie's plot.

Say hello to the Sequel Reset. The opposite of the SequelHook, this is when something (a scene, a line of dialogue, etc) occurs at the beginning of the sequel in order to establish that, as it turns out, the story isn't quite as over as we thought. It's used in order to justify the existence of the sequel and compensate for the lack of a Sequel Hook in the first one; inevitably, between the first movie and the second, something has happened to shake up the status quo that was restored at the end of the first movie in order to provide the sequel with the same (or similar, at least) character motivations / dynamics and plot requirements. TheHero and the LoveInterest have [[DowntimeDowngrade broken up]]. Looks like the Big Bad [[BackFromTheDead isn't quite as dead as we thought]]. Maybe our hero's discovered that VictoryIsBoring. Or just when the Hero thought his mundane life was back to normal, the good guys come stampeding out of his past and back into his life; it turns out the world wasn't put to rights after all and they need his help again...

* The original ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'' doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a sequel, meaning that ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' had to do this. While the overall plot of WonTheWarLostThePeace flows pretty naturally from the first game's ending, there's also a very evident BagOfSpilling with plot-relevant items like the Spheres and the Falchion, as well as the main BigBad, Gharnef, being revealed as NotQuiteDead (something the original didn't even imply). Marth's army also largely scatters to the winds, and he's only given a small cadre of inexperienced or half-dead knights to work with, requiring him to go on an adventure and get most of the old band back together.

Symptoms often include SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome. In video games, this is often accompanied by a BagOfSpilling. This commonly leads to a TwoPartTrilogy.

Symptoms often include SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome. In video games, this is often accompanied by a BagOfSpilling.

* This is a summary of the plot in [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's New Island]]. Turns out the DeliveryStork brought Mario and Luigi to the wrong house, so it hurries off to the real one. Before getting promptly attacked by Kamek out of absolutely nowhere all over again.

* ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery'' ends with the titular hero having undergone CharacterDevelopment, allowing him to mature and adjust his free-spirited Swinging Sixties ways to the more conservative but still liberated nineties, and setting him up in married life with his partner, Vanessa. So the beginning of the second movie reveals that Vanessa [[RoboticReveal was actually a robot]] and blows her up, and as soon as she's gone, Austin instantly reverts to his immature old ways. This is of course a parody of ''Film/JamesBond'' movies and the [[GirlOfTheWeek Bond Girls]]. The ''Bond'' movies usually don't even hint at what happened to previous Bond girls. Austin Powers used the most ridiculous explanation possible, and didn't offer one at all for the third movie.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'': In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', the main character Emmet was supposed to be TheChosenOne, but he was despised and shunned by the other Master Builders [[TheChosenZero because he has no combat skills, no building skills without using the instructions, and he is also kinda of an idiot]], [[spoiler:but even though the prophecy was made-up]], he fulfills this role when he becomes [[TookALevelInBadass skilled in both combat and building]], while not changing his personality much, comes the sequel, the world was attacked by repeated alien invasions and multiple characters like superheroes disappeared while trying to find the alien planet, it became increasingly hard to rebuild, [[AfterTheEnd and Brickpolis became a post-apocalyptic wasteland]], the reset comes because everyone else had to adapt to the hostile environment and became angsty or grumpy, but Emmet still acts cheerfully like nothing changed, so he is once again shunned and has to go on his adventure alone.

* As ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has civilization slowly being rebuilt in the California wasteland, ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' moves the setting to the Capital Wasteland, where the damage is even worse (despite taking place a few decades after ''2'') and society is closer to the primitive levels of the first game.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' ended with HappilyEverAfter, but the sequels seemed devoted to putting it off. ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' revealed there was an ''actual'' Prince Charming that was supposed to break the curse on Fiona, and that her royal parents were still around; after the lovers' honeymoon they're forced to meet her parents, causing another go-round of problems regarding Shrek's self-esteem. In ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'', Shrek had to get out of being king to return to the swamp. ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' resorted to ItsAWonderfulPlot.
* ''WesternAnimation/PinocchioInOuterSpace'' features a prologue which explains that Pinocchio misbehaved so much that the Blue Fairy turned him back into a puppet. Over the course of the film, he proceeds to [[RecycledInSpace experience familiar situations IN SPACE]].
[[/folder]]

* The original ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'' doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a sequel, meaning that ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' had to do this. While the overall plot of WonTheWarLostThePeace flows pretty naturally from the first game's ending, there's also a very evident BagOfSpilling with plot-relevant items like the Spheres and the Falchion, as well as the main BigBad, Gharnef, being revealed as NotQuiteDead (something the original didn't even imply).

%%* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' is considered the perfect ending to the trilogy. The film is the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest, most climatic film in the series]], and ends with [[spoiler: Andy giving away his toys to a new kid before leaving off for college.]] Then Pixar made ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', which many people actually [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail consider to be just as good of an ending]].

'''Warning: This trope contains Unmarked Spoilers!'''

'''Warning: This trope contains SPOILERS!'''