Series Fauxnale in Films.
- Alien:
- Aliens ends with the only known xenomorphs in the entire universe being turned into a cloud of vapor the size of Nebraska in a thermonuclear explosion. Yes, it was a good bet that other eggs existed somewhere out there, but the chances we'd run across them by accident was literally astronomical. Of course, the writers found another way...
- Sigourney Weaver came back for Alien³ only on the condition that Ripley be killed so that she wouldn't be asked to make any more Alien movies. A few years later, she changed her mind.
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes was originally meant to be the final entry in Planet of the Apes franchise, which is why it ends with Earth being blown up by a nuclear weapon. However, the producers wanted to squeeze more money out of what had become a Cash-Cow Franchise, and decided to continue the series by using Time Travel to take the surviving protagonists back to the period in history just before the apes took over.
- The Bourne Ultimatum ended with Jason Bourne helping blow the whistle on Treadstone and its successor agency Blackbriar. The franchise was subsequently followed by two more movies, The Bourne Legacy (a spin-off that gave this film a Happy Ending Override), and a direct sequel, Jason Bourne.
- For a while, Doctor in Clover was thought to be the final in the Doctor... Series, to the point where it was a surprise for Leslie Phillips when he was asked to return for Doctor in Trouble four years later.
- The Final Destination, the fourth film in the Final Destination series, was meant to close out the franchise for good (hence the The in the title) and offered a (controversial) reason for Death to allow the premonitions to happen. It promptly became the highest-grossing film in the series and was followed by Final Destination 5. Subverted in a way, in that the twist ending reveals Final Destination 5 is actually a prequel, thus leaving The Final Destination as the finale chronologically.
- Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare was intended to be the final A Nightmare on Elm Street film, with Freddy seemingly being killed off for good. While the next film was a more meta spinoff, there would be one more proper sequel before a remake.
- Friday the 13th has no less than four films that were meant to be the final one:
- Friday the 13th Part III was originally meant to be the final installment, ending the series as a trilogy. This explains why Jason had an axe thrown into his skull in the movie's climax; he was meant to be Killed Off for Real here. But true to his Made of Iron self, the next film (which was also meant to be the final one, as described below) reveals that he survived.
- Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was indeed meant to be one, but... wasn't.
- Also the eighth movie where Jason is turned back into a little boy.
- Also, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, which was the ninth movie in the franchise. It was followed by two more Jason films, and a remake of the original.
- Furious 7 was built up to be the Grand Finale of The Fast and the Furious series, even going as far as to give a fitting sendoff to Paul Walker, who tragically died in a car accident prior to the movie's release. However, Vin Diesel signed up for three more installments.
- Godzilla:
- Destroy All Monsters was going to be the last Godzilla film, as it takes place in the future, the Big Bad is killed, and they all live happily ever after. But it wasn't.
- It would be attempted again with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, where everything comes full circle with the birth of a monster from the very thing that killed the original Godzilla to the death of the then current Godzilla. After Godzilla (1998), however, Toho decided to show everyone how it's done by making more Godzilla movies, coming to a head with Godzilla: Final Wars.
- And even Godzilla: Final Wars wasn't the true end to the franchise! After the success of the 2014 American remake, Toho decided to bring the series out of retirement and released Shin Godzilla two years later.
- Halloween:
- Halloween II (1981) was originally supposed to conclude the the original film's story (which itself wasn't supposed to have a sequel), and the third film had a brand new story. Instead, the fourth film brought back Michael Myers for good.
- Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later was very clearly meant to be the definitive final film in the series. Then Halloween: Resurrection came along, retconning the ending of H20 into a Downer Ending to set the stage for another sequel, which failed to revitalize the franchise anyway. The series then got rebooted to a new continuity with Rob Zombie at the helm. And then another film, Halloween (2018), retcons everything but the original.
- James Bond: Spectre ends in a way that it simultaneously wraps up Craig-Bond's story, while also having a note of And the Adventure Continues. Daniel Craig was contracted to appear in one more film but struck a deal with the studios; of course "James Bond Will Return", but for a time it was touch-and-go on whether or not Craig would be back. He finally confirmed he would be reprising the role for one final outing, No Time to Die.
- When A Madea Family Funeral was released in 2019, Tyler Perry said that it would be the last outing of the Madea character. However, a few years later, he worked out a deal with Netflix for a new film, A Madea Homecoming, which furthermore was meant as a backdoor pilot for a prequel TV series made with Showtime.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Iron Man 3 was made so that it could serve as a conclusion to the Iron Man character just in case Robert Downey Jr. did not want to reprise the role in future MCU films (as it was the final movie on his original contract with Marvel), which is presumably why it ended with Tony destroying all of his Iron Man suits and promising to devote himself to his girlfriend Pepper. While Downey would go on to play the character for another 6 years until Avengers: Endgame, no other solo Iron Man movies were ever produced.
- Avengers: Endgame could’ve been the Grand Finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because it concludes a story arc that has been going for 10 years but is simply the end of the Infinity Saga and the story that began in Iron Man, not the total end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The point is driven home because it was one of the only MCU films not to have a post-credits scene. Spider-Man: Far From Home, which served as an epilogue to the Infinity Saga, teased more to come.
- Pirates of the Caribbean :
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was advertised in multiple media as The Final Chapter of the Epic Trilogy since it was supposed to be the end of the series. Despite that, there have been two more movies and one more coming in the way (although they follow a different story that is slightly connected to the first three).
- In a similar way Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was announced as The Final Adventure Begins which make fans wonder if this was supposed to be the final movie or just the beginning of the final adventure (which could be from 2 or 3 movies). The movie itself can work as a conclusion with Will and Elizabeth finally ending up together and Jack Sparrow sailing in the Black Pearl to the horizon in a similar way to the first movie finale until we get to The Stinger where it turns out Davy Jones has revived and tries to kill Will and Elizabeth.
- Saw III was clearly intended to finish the Saw series since it wraps up everything pretty nicely. There was even a box set released of the "Saw Trilogy". A few Sequel Hooks were added (Jigsaw's brief flashback, as well as the wax-covered tape and Amanda's letter) so that the series could continue. And then Saw 3D aka Saw: the Final Chapter was meant to be the last before Jigsaw was announced.
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was supposed to be the Grand Finale for Star Trek: The Original Series and the Star Trek franchise itself, since the TV spin-offs didn't exist at the time. A lot of this came down to the Troubled Production and lukewarm reception to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, leaving Paramount with feelings that that the franchise was at an end, but wanting to recoup something of the bloated budget of TMP. Further, it was known that Leonard Nimoy had cooled to playing Spock any more note , and with no Spock, there really was no Star Trek as he was the show's Breakout Character. But a couple of funny things happened on the way to shutting the franchise down — first, general audience reaction to test screenings was overwhelmingly positive, leading executives to think they could have a hit on their hands. Further, Leonard Nimoy was having second thoughts about completely parting ways with Star Trek.note Because of this, and fan despondency surrounding the scene of Spock's death, which was much more final in the original test cut, a scene was shot with Spock putting his katra into McCoy's mind in case Nimoy wanted to return for any sequels.
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was intended to be the last movie made, while chronologically Return of the Jedi was meant to be the Grand Finale. However, in 2012, Disney brought the rights to Lucasfilm and decided to develop the Sequel Trilogy, with The Rise of Skywalker being the true finale of the saga (though Disney will still be making movies after the release of Episode IX, no future movies will officially be part of the Skywalker Saga).
- Terminator:
- The original alternate ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day showed the now aged Sarah and the grown up John playing with his child at the park.
- VERY averted with Salvation, Genisys, and Dark Fate, each of which was supposed to be the beginning of a second trilogy. However, none of them made quite enough money at the box office for those trilogies to materialize.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon was going to be the last Transformers movie, as it ended with Cybertron being destroyed and all of the Decepticons killed off. The film was obviously a box-office hit, so the series was Retooled with Age of Extinction.
