Upcoming Netflix Sequels You May Not Know Were In The Works

There was a time when it seemed like a wild experiment to have a streaming service make their own original content, especially full-length films. Yet here we are, with streaming movies being so successful that some of them now have sequels — sometimes several of them, in fact. Netflix has always been the biggest trailblazer in the streaming world, and that is especially true for how much it has helped to legitimize movies that debut on streaming services. And "the Big N" — or however it's being colloquially referred to these days — has also led the charge in making sequels to its films.

Another area where Netflix broke new ground is in rescuing shows that had previously been canceled by terrestrial networks and cable channels, and that eventually crossed over into the streamer making its own sequels to movies it had no part in producing. There is always a list a mile long of what's coming to Netflix, so much so that nobody can possibly keep up with all of it — and with the brand new stuff typically getting the most attention, movie sequels often get lost in the shuffle. Don't be surprised if you aren't aware that some — if not all — of these sequels are in the works for Netflix, following up both Netflix and non-Netflix predecessors.

Netflix added another massive A-lister to its roster when it got Charlize Theron to star in the 2020 actioner "The Old Guard," based on the Image Comics graphic novel series of the same name. It saw Theron play Andromache — aka Andy — one of the titular group of seemingly immortal warriors who have been working as mercenaries for hire for thousands of years. The premise might sound somewhat similar to Theron's 2008 film "Hancock," but unlike that movie and its 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, "The Old Guard" nearly doubled that on its way to a certified fresh rating. 

Though the ending of "The Old Guard" hinted at a sequel, such things are never guaranteed when it comes to Netflix movies or shows. Theron said that she and her castmates were down for it, but that also doesn't necessarily mean anything. In January 2021, it was reported that Netflix had officially greenlit the sequel — though the various strikes, as well as some management changes at Netflix, dragged out the production process much longer than originally intended. There still isn't a release date, but in November 2024, Luca Marinelli — who plays another of the immortals — told Collider, "I'm very looking forward to seeing it, to watching it, as the audience I hope." So it certainly sounds it's either done or very close to it. 

Adam Sandler movies might frequently feature callbacks to previously films — and there are even a few characters that have appeared in multiple movies — but "Grown Ups 2" and "Hotel Transylvania 2" are thus far the only direct sequels he's actually co-written. Sandler has waited an admirably long amount of time to follow up any of his classic '90s efforts, but he's finally doing that with "Happy Gilmore 2," which began filming in September 2024.  

Almost nothing is known about the plot of the sequel, which will check in with Sandler's failed hockey-player-turned-pro-golfer after he won the tour championship against rival Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) at the end of the 1996 original. McDonald is set to return as Shooter, so it's assumed that he will once again be pitted against Happy on the green. 

Multiple cast members from the original film — Carl Weathers, Frances Bay, Richard Kiel, Joe Flaherty, and Bob Barker — have unfortunately passed away, taking a big chunk out of the list of potential returning characters. But "Happy Gilmore" alums Julie Bowen, Allen Covert, and Ben Stiller are all confirmed to be involved, in addition to some fun newcomers. It'll certainly be interesting to see what the "Happy Gilmore" cast looks like today when the sequel comes to Netflix sometime in the next year or so. 

20th Century Fox took a rather ambitious approach to the initial trilogy of "Fear Street" movies, filming them back to back with the plan of releasing each of them a month apart in 2020. But the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing shutdown of movie theaters put the kibosh on that plan, with new owners Disney losing interest in the movies entirely and Netflix subsequently buying them for itself. In 2021, Netflix released each of the three movies — "Fear Street Part One: 1994," "Fear Street Part Two: 1978," and "Fear Street Part Three: 1666" — across three weeks in July of that year.

Based on the book series of the same name by "Goosebumps" author R.L. Stine, the "Fear Street" trilogy was critically acclaimed and must have made Netflix happy in terms of viewership numbers, since there is now a fourth movie on the way. Unlike the previous films, which were original stories that merely sought to capture the vibe of the book series, the next film is taking a more direct adaptation route by being titled after the 15th "Fear Street" book, "Prom Queen." It is also going to be a standalone film in terms of both story and characters, whereas the trilogy entries were all directly connected. An exact month hasn't been revealed, but "Prom Queen" is set to hit Netflix sometime in 2025. 

"Bank of Dave" hit Netflix in 2023, based on the true story of a wealthy man — played by Rory Kinnear — who tries to start his own bank in order to help the businesses in his town. The movie makes it known that it took a lot of creative liberties with the real story and the people involved via its opening disclaimer, with many names and locations changed and several big events being entirely fabricated. Still, it's in the service of a feel-good film that is a refreshing breath of mostly cynicism-free air, the likes of which isn't especially common in movies these days. 

Another good thing about so much of "Bank of Dave" being fictional is that it gives Netflix plenty of room to take a sequel in any direction it wants. And so we have "Bank of Dave 2" set to arrive sometime in 2025, with some reports claiming its subtitle is "The Loan Ranger" while others simply refer to it as "Bank of Dave: The Sequel."  "This is Us" star Chrissy Metz is signed on to join the sequel, along with Kinnear returning to again play Dave. In a fun twist, the real Dave, Dave Fishwick, will also appear in "Bank of Dave 2" as some sort of villain character. He didn't show up in the original movie, though he served as a producer. 

From Joe and Anthony Russo — the directors who delivered such an incredible finale with "Avengers: Endgame" that the MCU should have ended after that (according to Reddit) – came the 2022 Netflix film "The Gray Man." The action thriller reteamed the Russos with Chris Evans while also allowing them to work with Ryan Gosling for the first time, which put two of the biggest actors in Hollywood at the time together as co-leads. Evans plays a disgraced former CIA agent-turned-mercenary who has been hired to take down Gosling's convict-turned-CIA agent. The two have great chemistry together in their cat and mouse game, with action set pieces as well-executed as you'd expect from the Russo brothers.

Netflix was talking up a "'Gray Man' universe" before the first movie even hit the service, and the first sequel was confirmed to be in the works shortly thereafter, with Gosling and the Russos returning. There was also talk of a spin-off movie focused on the Lone Wolf character played by actor Dhanush. But then things went quiet for a while on both projects. In April 2024, Joe Russo did confirm that the sequel was still very much in development. However, the subsequent news that the Russos are back in the MCU fold – and will direct both "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars" for release in 2026 and 2027 respectively — does beg the question of whether "The Gray Man 2" has been put on the backburner once again.

It seems that the whole "Justice League" debacle soured Zack Snyder on not only the DC Extended Universe but theatrical films in general. Other than the work he did to finally deliver "Zack Snyder's Justice League" in 2021, Snyder has been credited only as a producer for both DC films and big screen films since the release of the 2017 original version of that movie. In the meantime, he's been working entirely in the streaming realm — save for limited theatrical releases of his streaming movies — beginning with "Army of the Dead" and up through 2024's "Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver," all Netflix originals.

While his "Army of the Dead" franchise seems to have been shelved for now, Snyder is still actively working on expanding the "Rebel Moon" universe. Like most of Snyder's movies, the sci-fi franchise has mostly failed to win over critics but has found a devoted fandom, enough so that Netflix is eager to let Snyder continue making new entries. There are currently two main "Rebel Moon" films — plus director's cuts of each, because of course there are — with plans for as many as four additional movies said to be in the works per Kurt Johnstad, one of Snyder's co-writers on the series. He said in April 2024 that the goal is to eventually make six "Rebel Moon" films, forming a main trilogy of movies that each have two parts. That same month, Snyder himself told Forbes, "We have definitely been working on a part three." 

The general consensus on "Troll," the 2022 Netflix monster movie from Norwegian director Roar Uthaug, is that it wasn't the most original entry the genre has ever seen but was nonetheless a solid effort that's well worth watching for fans of Godzilla and King Kong. Less than a year after it hit the streaming service, Netflix commissioned a sequel from the same creative team that put together the first movie — not surprising given that, as of November 2024, it remains the biggest non-English Netflix original movie of all time. 

Also in November 2024, Netflix confirmed that production on "Troll 2" was well underway, and that audiences could expect the movie to hit the service sometime in 2025. Given that the sequel to the 2018 "Tomb Raider" film, also directed by Uthaug, was eventually canceled, it's nice to see that the director is getting another shot at helming a franchise with "Troll 2." If it's even remotely as successful as the first movie, don't be surprised to see an announcement for a third installment happen as quickly as the second was revealed. 

There are a number of reasons why Millie Bobby Brown is ready for "Stranger Things" to end, chief among them that she'll be able to focus more time on other projects. And one of those projects is another Netflix property, the mystery film franchise "Enola Holmes," which sees Brown play the younger sister of famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill). There have been two "Enola Holmes" movies thus far, with the second actually getting even better reviews than the already-acclaimed original. 

Given that the series is on an upward swing thus far, it doesn't require a master sleuth to deduce the fact that Netflix is expanding it into a trilogy. In November 2023, the streamer said that the screenplay was already being written. The following November brought reports of Philip Barantini being attached to direct, along with word that Brown is just waiting to wrap filming on the final season of "Stranger Things" before she dives into production on "Enola Holmes 3." This obviously puts the movie pretty far out, with a 2025 release being extremely unlikely, but it is indeed still in the works and is a franchise and character that Brown has a lot of affection for. 

Before doing "The Gray Man," Joe and Anthony Russo first paired with Netflix two years prior for 2020's "Extraction," another action thriller starring another actor they borrowed from their Marvel Cinematic Universe days — in this case, Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a mercenary who is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of a drug kingpin. Both Russos worked on the story, but only Joe is credited on the actual screenplay. Neither directed "Extraction," with that distinction going to Sam Hargrave, a frequent second unit director for the Russos. 

Since "Extraction" got a two-year head start, it already has a sequel under its belt. "Extraction 2" once again saw Joe Russo writing and Sam Hargrave directing for a sequel that the Rotten Tomatoes consensus called, "bigger, bolder, and in some respects even better than its predecessor," on the way to a Certified Fresh rating the original failed to achieve. In June 2023 — the same month "Extraction 2" was released — it was revealed that "Extraction 3" was officially in the works at Netflix, with only Hemsworth and Hargrave confirmed to be involved. 

However, in October 2023, the Russos revealed that not only are they both involved with the story for "Extraction 3," but that filming is set to take place in 2025. This makes it pretty likely that we'll see a third "Extraction" movie before we see a second installment of "The Gray Man" — sequel, spin-off, or otherwise. 

While the original "Knives Out" was a full-on theatrical release — and an extremely successful one at that — it would seem that Netflix has decided to make the franchise its own going forward. First came "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," the second installment, which hit Netflix in 2022. And now we have the third entry, "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery," set to hit the streaming service sometime in 2025 (if that's too long a wait, luckily there are 7 movies like "Knives Out" to scratch your itch before "Wake Up Dead Man").

"Wake Up Dead Man" will continue writer-director Rian Johnson's tradition of having an entirely fresh batch of actors playing an entirely new cast of characters, save for the one unifying element of the series: Daniel Craig's quirky detective, Benoit Blanc, the only returning actor and character to carry over from one film to the next. The title, "Wake Up Dead Man," suggests that a corpse will once again turn up, and that Blanc will again be commissioned to figure out whodunit. Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, and Mila Kunis are just of few of the latest batch of actors to play potential suspects in the ever-expanding "Knives Out" universe. 

While Netflix's animated film efforts initially consisted of work done by other production companies, the streaming giant launched its own in-house animation studio in 2019 for both movies and series. It didn't take long for Netflix Animation to become a legitimate force in the space, especially with releases like the critically-acclaimed and Oscar-nominated 2022 film "The Sea Beast." And now Netflix Animation is set to produce the first sequel to one of its own animated films with the upcoming "The Sea Beast 2."

The first movie takes place in a world where aquatic monsters are abundant, and skilled hunters like Jacob Holland (voiced by Karl Urban) are highly prized for their efforts. But a girl name Maisie (voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator) calls the established adversarial relationship between man and beast into question when she successfully befriends the young offspring of one of the creatures. 

The movie's director and co-writer, Chris Williams, signed a two-movie deal with Netflix in January 2023 that included both another original work and a sequel to "The Sea Beast." Given the four-year gap between the first movie's announcement and its eventual release, we're probably still some time away from "The Sea Beast 2." But sequels do tend to take less time than debut installments, so here's hoping we see it a lot sooner than 2027.

Given that it is the biggest Netflix movie of all time in terms of views — with a staggering 239 million watches as of December 2023 — it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that "Red Notice" already has not one, but two sequel scripts in the works. Still, the world of streaming moves pretty fast, and as previously mentioned, Netflix alone has a near-constant deluge of content coming to the service at all times. So even for a movie that was as popular as "Red Notice," it might be easy for people to forget that it has announced followups on the way.

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot — three of the biggest celebrities on the planet at the time — "Red Notice" is a action heist comedy about stealing ancient artifacts, double- and triple-crosses, and all of the other tropes one would expect from such a movie. And of course, with three ridiculously charming actors at the center of it all, it's hard not to smile the entire time. 

Updates on the sequels have been fairly quiet since around 2022. That's when it was first revealed that the script for the second movie was finished, with the plan to have the third ready in time for the two movies to film back to back. Little else has been said since then in any official capacity, but given how big of a property this is for Netflix, there's no way it's going to be abandoned.