The 5 Best Netflix Original Movie Sequels

In honor of what is shaping up to be the most sequel heavy year for Netflix Original Movies in their existence (Happy Gilmore 2, The Old Guard 2, Fear Street: Prom Queen, Lost Bullet 3, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Troll 2), we figured it was high time for a check in on the success of their franchise opportunities so far and give you the best of the bunch.

From star-studded mysteries to long-standing IP, Netflix has taken many swings at building its movie brands. While some have been high profile duds (The Cloverfield Paradox right after the Super Bowl?!), world building missteps (Bird Box … Barcelona?), or simply just Christmas being Christmas (3 Christmas Prince Movies?!), the Netflix Original sequel has had some real success stories this decade building on some popular franchises of their own or from abandoned studio IP. While we don’t have a Netflix Theme Park just yet, I’m sure they would love to feature these big-time wins alongside rides for Stranger Things, Squid Game, & Bridgerton.

While you can check out all my weekly reviews here, let’s look at my list of the Best Netflix Original Sequels of all time.

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Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is the first Wallace and Gromit project for Netflix following a long history of animated short films, TV series, & feature films dating back to 1989.

Co-directed by Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park, Vengeance Most Fowl is the first W&G feature film since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005, but its story is far more of a direct sequel to the short film The Wrong Trousers, which Park made in 1993 and won Best Animated Short at the Oscars in 1994. Written by longtime Aardman screenwriter Mark Burton (Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Shaun the Sheep Movie), the story brings the return of silent yet brilliant penguin villain Feathers McGraw as he seeks his revenge upon Wallace and Gromit after they foiled his museum diamond heist in The Wrong Trousers. Imprisoned as a new animal at the local zoo for the past 3 years, Feathers hatches a deliciously devious scheme to not only escape, but frame Wallace for his latest crime, all with the aid of Wallace’s latest invention: the Smart Gnome – a robotic gnome that takes commands to do chores around the home. Under his full control and multiplying by the minute, Feathers takes the city by storm and Wallace’s reputation down with it. While Gromit may have felt a little abandoned by Wallace’s new gadget, he would never let his best friend down or let Feathers win as the film turns into a battle of wits & will between these smart animal adversaries.

With beautifully updated stop-motion animation from the award-winning Aardman team, Vengeance Most Fowl is a welcome addition to the Wallace and Gromit canon. Even with a new co-director (longtime animator Merlin Crossingham replacing Steve Box) and a new voice for Wallace (Ben Whitehead stepping in admirably for the legendary Peter Sallis following his passing), the film doesn’t miss a beat; giving all the laughs & love from the iconic longtime duo, providing all the Easter eggs and fan service their loyal supporters expect, while giving a four quadrant tale that the whole family can enjoy even if they are new to the franchise. After the success of this film, the Oscar-nominated short Robin Robin, and the new Chicken Run sequel, Aardman seems to be making the most of their new relationship with Netflix, and we are better for it.

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YUP! Already cheating! But the wholly original idea to release a film trilogy in back-to-back-to-back weeks is also a little cheating, so who cares?!
Released in July 2021, writer/director Leigh Janiak took the R.L. Stine teenage horror fiction series of books & his cursed town of Shadyside and brought them to cinematic glory with three distinctly unique films; each capturing a different time in the unholy tale of Sarah Fier and the ancient evil that lingers in Shadyside centuries later.

After Fear Street: Part One – 1994 set the tone for the following two films to come with it’s Kevin Williamson-esque winking dialogue and post-Scream flow, Janiak took us to 1978 with Part 2 (my favorite of the three by a smidge), a summer camp set homage to films like the original Friday the 13th (complete with baghead killer; yes I know that comes later in the Friday 2), Sleepaway Camp, & the countless copycats splattered throughout the 80s.

While the films aim to grab the Stranger Things audience looking to graduate to the horror movie universe, 1978 kicks off 2 films that make that grab more direct with the casting of Max Mayfield herself Sadie Sink, who plays dejected camper Ziggy Berman – a character of much importance to the trilogy as a whole.

Sink, along with her sister character Cindy played by Emily Rudd, give the best performances of the films with the most well-defined characters, constantly fighting the battles of friendship, sisterhood, & trauma before ultimately becoming final girls to remember; Add in some memorable kills, added gore, & a cool 70s soundtrack and you have a recipe for teen slasher satisfaction. 1978 gives just enough coloring in for the first and third films while also being a standalone film that can be enjoyed without the lead-in.

1666 picks up exactly where 1978 ends with our 1994 crew experiencing the origin story of the Shadyside Witch, Sarah Fier, in the late 17th century. While it may be jarring to some to have the 1994 & 1978 actors (including Sink) playing new 1666 characters, I found it to work quite well, especially for Kiana Madeira playing the ‘94 lead Deena AND the 1666 version of Sarah Fier.

With a well-executed period piece in the first half and a thrilling finale back in 1994, the third Fear Street installment doesn’t just land the plane for the series, but it is also the most aggressive thematically as it tackles larger conversations on toxic masculinity, LGBTQ issues, & police abuse of power. Featuring a more grim and gruesome 1666 section before a more fun & satisfying conclusion in the 90s, this third film makes you happy that you stuck with such a challenging & unique project and leaves you wondering what you were going to do when you didn’t have a new Fear Street movie the following week. Here’s to hoping Fear Street: Prom Queen will be a welcome addition to the franchise when we return to Shadyside in late May.

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In 2020, the original Enola Holmes film, based on the Nancy Springer novels, was incredibly well received as the Netflix audience tuned in to a massive 76 million viewers in its first month on the platform. Despite being Millie Bobby Brown’s first lead role in a film, director Harry Bradbeer’s first feature film after massive TV success, and a possible casualty to Sherlock-related overexposure, Enola Holmes seemed poised to make the Springer series (6 books in total) a real possibility for future franchise success.

In the Fall of 2022, the franchising was afoot as Enola Holmes 2 arrived on Netflix with Brown, Bradbeer, & supporting stars like Helena Bonham Carter and Sherlock himself, Henry Cavill, back for more mysterious fun. The sequel strays away from the 2nd novel in the series and instead uses a bold blend of historical fiction (the film opens with the text: “Some of what follows is true. The important parts at least.”) that ties directly to the core feminist learnings of Enola’s childhood and the current social/political doings of Enola’s mother, Eudoria (Bonham Carter).

Shedding the constraints of a young girl coming of age in late 19th-century British society (boarding schools, corsets, first loves), Enola Holmes 2 seems to be far more concerned with its present case than its protagonist’s past. No Mycroft. No romantic entanglements to start. No present worries about her mother’s whereabouts. The film, as well as Enola herself, is free to get right to the heart of why we’re all here: solving a complex mystery alongside the best family ever to do it; which means more screen time for some of our favorite franchise carryovers, Henry Cavill as Sherlock and Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria. Their increased presence in the film makes the tone more heartfelt, dynamic, & adventurous compared to the original.

The cast grows deeper as the edits get sharper, and the mystery grows stronger as Enola’s flashbacks & 4th wall-breaking start to recede. At the same time, the film may suffer from runtime bloat or scenes that don’t entirely work (I’m looking at you, Match Makers’ Ball), the improvements upon the first film cannot be denied and should prove to be a quality template for future installments (Enola Holmes 3 is currently in production). Enola Holmes 2 is a worthy addition to the Sherlock Holmes extended universe and the budding Enola Holmes franchise.

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For better or for worse, the Extraction film series is the best movie franchise Netflix has produced to date. The original film burst onto the scene during the height of the pandemic in 2020 by combining multiple key players from the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Extraction leveraged the names of Chris Hemsworth and the Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame) along with the impressive stunt work resume of director Sam Hargrave (Captain America: Civil War, Infinity War/Endgame) to entice 99 million Netflix viewers to watch it in the first four weeks of release.

Hargrave and Russo could have done what many filmmakers do with their sequels and rolled out the same blueprint with increased budgets, more lavish stunts, and an even more diminished plotline, as if to say, “We know why you’re here, and here it is.”

While it does have more money and more firepower, Extraction 2 also has more heart and deeper connections that serve to increase the stakes of its ultra-violent buffet. To put it plainly like a 1990s movie trailer voiceover, Tyler Rake is back … and this time, it’s personal.

The man with the death wish from the first film has survived the unthinkable and finds purpose in the form of a new mission requested by the only person left in his life in which he has something to prove: his ex-wife Mia (played by Olga Kurylenko) whom he left behind to take care of their son in the final days of his battle with Lymphoma. In the name of honor and redemption, we follow Rake and his team as they take on the head of a vicious crime family in order to save Mia’s sister and her children from his control.

Blending action movie staples like father/son relationships, revenge narratives, and ending cycles of violence with the aforementioned motives of Rake lends to a far more compelling tale than that of its predecessor. It’s also really, really useful if you blow up several helicopters or stab a bad guy with a pitchfork while doing it.

Extraction 2 does a great job of knowing what its audience wants while serving them a story that its central character and its burgeoning franchise desperately needed. Hemsworth has found a suitable path forward as his role in the MCU may be diminishing, and Hargrave looks more and more like a success as a director, taking his place among his former stunt crew turned director peers like Chad Stahelski (John Wick) and David Leitch (Deadpool 2, The Fall Guy).

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In the spring of 2021, Netflix made a giant splash when it bought the rights to the 2nd & 3rd Knives Out sequels for a whopping $450 million, one of the biggest deals ever made for the rights to a film series. At the time (and maybe still), Netflix wanted popular, notable franchises to add to their growing library of Original films. After making $311.4 million on a $40 million budget for Lionsgate & Media Rights Capital in 2019, the original Knives Out film also scored high with the critics, carrying an impressive 82 Metascore and was Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 97% rating; Toss in an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and you have a true bonafide success. How would the sequel handle the pressure?

Glass Onion, which also earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay, was easily the most entertaining and rewatchable Netflix Original in some time. With its incredible roster of talent and complex story construction, it captures most of the magic of the first film, but it deviates from the design just enough to be more intriguing for its franchise’s future.

The film features an expanded depiction of the Benoit Blanc character as he navigates a dangerous game amongst a tight group of rich & powerful guests; as a guest first before his detective skills rise to occasion, Daniel Craig’s Blanc must be more actor than sleuth before unveiling his true motives in subtle layers throughout his time on the island. Craig’s lead performance can only be matched (or possibly surpassed) by the standout performances of Janelle Monae and Kate Hudson, who steal the show as the backbone of the plot Andi Brand & the breezy, dim-witted delight Birdie Jay respectively.

But, the real showstopper has to be Rian Johnson’s well-crafted script inspired by The Beatles’ classic album of the same name. The beauty of the film’s mystery construction is that it punches you in the face with its simplicity after trying to play mind games meant to distract the audience who thinks they can outwit the creators. Johnson dazzles you with luxurious locales, opulent set design, and knock-out couture, including Kate Hudson’s remarkable rainbow dress during a crucial part of the film. He tempts you with deeper meanings behind the Glass Onion, created on the island, or the actual Mona Lisa brought into its halls. Still, Johnson relishes in those temptations and false flags to bring something more to the point that delights in taking the piss out of the hype of high expectations. Though the film itself displays many mental & physical puzzle boxes, the winners of this fight skip the puzzles and go straight to the throat. Somewhere in the ether, John Lennon is laughing his ass off.

With the third installment on its way this year, Netflix is seemingly all in on this series and I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting any number of sequels from Johnson, Craig, & company.

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Honorable Mentions

• Ultraman: Rising
• To All The Boys: Always and Forever
• Army of Thieves
• Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
• Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

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What’s your favorite Netflix Original sequel? Let us know in the comments down below.