The best movies and games that never got sequels

In a landscape where sequels dominate, some hits remain solitary. Our special issue, One and Done, explores that shrinking world of singular successes: games, films, and ideas that felt like the start of something bigger but never received a follow-up.

We look at the cult movie that never became a franchise, characters and concepts that stayed frozen in their original form, and lightning-strike successes in gaming from Fez to Minecraft-style phenomena. The issue highlights creators who left behind a single defining work and the stalled universes that followed.

Along the way, the pieces imagine the what-ifs — a scenario where George Lucas never made Star Wars, and “one and done” wasn’t the exception but the norm — while tracing the oddities and enduring appeal of one-off masterpieces across games, movies, and culture.

sequels, movies, games, fez, minecraft, cult movie, star wars, george lucas, franchise, creators