Sometimes Hollywood produces some successful works and you get to season…. Infinity or Spinoff number 4 and you start thinking “OK, the cow has been milked. Let’s go home.” But, there are times where the Universe created by the original manages to get impressively dense. To be clear, I’m not talking about series like Friday the 13th, where the numbers stack up because the writers concocted new and improved ways to kill people, or more ridiculous ways to bring Should-Be-Dead characters back. What I’m describing here is 5 series more akin to Star Wars in their ability to grow its storylines and character bases. Lets get to it.
Power started off as a story about a Drug Dealer slash Business Man trying to hit his last big lick so that he can officially leave the game and carry on as an upstanding business man. Not a story we haven’t heard before. Where it gets different, though, is the 50 Cent backed show manages to take popular and controversial characters and weave all new worlds around them, whether by way of origin story or next chapter continuations. The story of Ghost St. Patrick has managed to become:
Ghost: Book II, the story of his son Tariq’s ascension in the game. Tariq expands the Universe while hustling in college. Famous faces like Mary J Blige, Method Man and Larenz Tate play prominent roles in this one.
Raising Kanan: Book III, the origin story of the main Power universe heel set 20 years earlier. We see the circumstances, in the late ’80s and early ’90s, that made the main Kanan the cold diabolical character he is.
Force: Book IV, where the universe follows another popular character Tommy to Chicago to set up shop in that cities drug game. Honestly, I find the transformation of Tommy from muscle and crew crashout to super savvy chess player rather eyebrow raising. But, its really the notion that a single NY dude could move to Chicago and basically dominate the drug scene that I find obsurd. Its a fun watch, but….
Up next is Origins, another prequel that will flesh out the Ghost and Tommy’s rise in the game. This series will be set after Raising Kanan and before the original series.
Then there Legacy in development, which is set up at the conclusion of Book II, centered around a partnership between Tommy and Tariq St. Patrick.
Bottom line is, these aren’t some “I thought of more stuff we can do” type series. This is a “That thing you were wondering about in Episode 6 that wasn’t explained. Well there’s a whole story behind it. Here you go!” type of Universe.
Yellowstone is a Universe that I was actually introduced to out of order. Known as the Dutton-Verse, after the family this franchise follows, it was initially suggested to me that I check out the show 1883. It was a Western style show that starred Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sam Elliot and had a narrator element by the shows main character Isabel May. I had heard of Yellowstone, but never watched it and had no idea until later that the show I was watching was related. Honestly, aside from some Easter Eggs and references you may not catch, you won’t be completely lost watching the first 3 series in the order of your choosing. The writing for each series is intentionally distinct and designed to able to stand on its own. Yellowstone as a series spanned 5 seasons, while its spinoffs are shorter in nature.
So, first there’s Yellowstone (2018), which I would describe as a sort of current day Dynasty but with a Godfather edge. Dutton Family patriarch John III played by Kevin Costner, is the owner of the Yellowstone ranch in Montana, where he, his 3 grown children, and his second in command fight off various attempts to pry away his family’s property and power.
Then there’s 1883 (2021), which is the origin series following the Dutton family’s dangerous trek West after the Civil War. Think Native Americans, Bandits and Small Pox. This series is the story of John Dutton III’s great grandparents and the unintended settling in Montana and creation of the ranch.
Next is 1923 (2022). This series follows the Duttons and their ranch during the Great Depression and prohibition era. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are now the heads of the Dutton family. They have no children of their own but are raising their nephews John Sr and Spencer. See how that works? This time, the Universe expands to Africa and Great Britian. 1923 can be summed up by Law, Order, and Desperation.
Up Next is Marshals (2026). Marshals is a Yellowstone continuation series that follows John III ex-Navy SEAL son Kayce Dutton. Kayce is the only Dutton left living in Montana and joins the US Marshals Service. Now, I have to note that Marshals is the first series in this Universe not created by Taylor Sheridan, and to be honest, it shows. Marshals has far more a Major TV network “cop show” feel to it than any other show in this universe and its rating bear that out. Its major relation to the Universe is its recurring characters from the Yellowstone series and frequent references to plot points from the original.
Around the same time Marshals premeired, we were also hit with Dutton Ranch. Dutton Ranch is also a current day Yellowstone continuation series following John III’s right hand Rip and his wife, super feisty Beth Dutton. The couple have moved to Texas and attempt to set up a new family legacy with the Dutton Ranch. This series feels far more aligned with the rest of the Universe although it is also not a Sheridan creation. Given that Rip and Beth were 2 of the most popular Yellowstone characters, there’s a lot of directions this series can go.
In the pipeline is 1944. Another prequel series that not much is currently known about. It’s expected to follows the Duttons during War World II and follow the story of John II. Also, if you like the feel of these shows The Madision (2026) was also slated to be another spinoff series and actually is a Sheridan creation, but late into production it was changed to a stand alone series.
Bottom line, whether you like Westerns, family drama, or just families that feel more like gangs, the Dutton-Verse is definitely one to check out.
I know what you’re thinking. “I thought you said this wasn’t about series that jumped the shark 5 movies ago”. Hear me out. On the surface, it may seem like the F&F franchise is just making up more and more goofy subplots in order to blow stuff up and make cars fly, aaand to some degree, you’d be right. But a look beneath the hood shows a lot more. There’s far too many pieces of media to go through individually, so I’ll just try to sum up what’s happening here.
The Fast and the Furious starred Vin Diesel as street racer and part time truck hijacker Dominic Toretto and the late Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner, an LA police officer sent undercover to infiltrate the criminal crew. Then there’s Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster as the love interests gluing these 2 together. Think a Point Break but for race cars instead of surfers. Yeah, pretty much a complete plot jack, but highly entertaining.
Then there’s 2 Fast 2 Furious introducing Tyrese, Ludacris and Eva Mendez. This time Brian is a fugitive hiding out in Miami who gets pulled back in to work for the FBI to take down a drug organization. This one is important because it showed how the skills their team had with cars could expand into other situations. Kinda goofy, but whatever.
So here’s where it gets interesting. As they progress through the series and expand the main characters and universe you start to realize these stories aren’t completely sequential and actually represent lots of individual stories, subplots each with its own connection to the original.
Chronologically, the story goes:
- The Fast and the Furious (2001)
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- Fast & Furious (2009)
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
- Furious 7 (2015)
- The Fate of the Furious (2017)
- Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
- F9 (2021)
- Fast X (2023)
Then there’s the shorts that work to tie different movies together like Turbo Charged Prelude (2003) and Los Bandoleros (2009), which can both be found on YouTube.
You have the movie Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) which has its own separate story but also serves as an origin story to a main character in the Tokyo Drift movie.
You also get the Fast & Furious: Spy Racers animated series that netted 6 seasons of its own and branches off into the Toretto family tree. I have not watched these but if its anything like the other pieces, I would bet that they are also used to grow this Universe.
Bottom line, the F&F Universe is closer to Star Wars canon than it is to Nightmare on Elm Street. If you’re into action, hop in, but if you’re into weaving character tentacles and a Universe that reaches into shorts and animated stories, this one may also surprise you. Hey, Star Wars has some ridiculous story lines too.
The biggest misconception I run into when discussing The Walking Dead with people, is the idea that it’s a series about Zombies, and “I’m just not into Zombies”. The truth is, yes there are a lot of undead people, but the Universe itself is absolutely not about Zombies. Zombies, as it turns out, are just the background music to the alive people. This show is about what happens to us when the Apocalypse happens. Who we become. How we exist and rebuild, and all the stuff that comes with it. The Universe is conceptually more Mad Max than it is Night of the Living Dead.
So let’s get into it. The franchise sets off with the main character Rick Grimes waking up from a coma in Georgia to find the world he remembers basically gone. Some sort of virus has broken out that turns people into zombies they call Walkers. He sets out to find his wife Lori and son Carl. Along the way, he meets and battles many of the characters who eventually end up fleshing out the tentacles of the Walking Dead Universe.
The original series lasted for 11 seasons. It’s worth noting that since most of the spinoffs are based on the travels of characters in the original series, there are overlaps in some of the broadcasting. For example, the first spinoff Fear the Walking Dead premiers between seasons 5 and 6 of the original, and the two run concurrently moving foward. For some of the spinoffs, it can be a little difficult pinpointing the time frame, in the greater Universe, things are happening.
There’s The Walking Dead (2010) based in the Georgia area.
Then there’s Fear the Walking Dead (2015) focusing on Los Angeles.
Next you have World Beyond (2020) set in Nebraska and 10 years into the apocalyptic future. This one represented the “Get the tweener demographic” angle that a lot of series try. I would call it the worst of the series and it only lasted 2 seasons.
You have Tales of the Walking Dead (2022), which was one season and focused on one character per one hour episode to pull off some more Universe building.
Next is Dead City (2023) based in New York City and centers on the relationship between popular main characters from the original, Maggie and Negan.
Daryl Dixon (2023) takes us to a different area of the world each season. The US, France, Spain and London all get some run in this series.
Then there’s The Ones Who Live (2024), which was originally supposed to be a movie but was, instead, converted into a 6 episode TV series. This one boast the return of Rick and Michonne Grimes in and around Philadelphia and the Cascades.
Bottom line, the apocalypse is world wide, so it follows logic that the stories affected by the apocalyspe would span the world. The Walking Dead Universe is huge. If you’re here for the zobies, cool. But if you’re here for the human stories, this is really where this Universe excels.
I’ll consider this one an honorable mention considering it’s based on a comic, which by definition is designed for Universe expanding. Arrow, which was based on the DC comics character Green Arrow was the first in a number of tentacle series primarily airing on the CW network. “ArrowVerse” shows, as they’ve been dubbed, are fairly light and family friendly in approach, without coming off silly. The first two are catalyst shows for all the others.
Arrow (2012) follows rich, chick magnet Oliver Queen through his transformation into a crime fighting vigilante in Star City. So yeah, basically DCs other Batman.
The Flash (2014) has Barry Allen in “nearby” Central City. I use quotes here because these two seems to have each other on speed dial and sugar-sharing contact, but geographically, one city is in Washington state and the other is supposed to be in Missouri.
Supergirl (2015) puts Superman’s also famous cousin Kara, played by Melissa Benoist in National City. As opposed to Clark’s East Coast Metropolis, National City is represented as Californian West Coast city.
Legends of Tomorrow (2016) takes the Universe to space where comic knowns like The Atom, Hawk Man and Woman, Firestorm, White Canary and others use a time traveling ship to deal with different disturbances.
Black Lightning (2018) starring Cress Williams takes us to Freeland, Georgia. The retired… Unretired Black Lightning finds himself at odds with crime Kingpin Tobias Whale. Lots of comic cameos here.
Batwoman (2019) finally puts us in probably the most talked about city in DC lore, Gotham. In Batwoman, we get something that happens often in comics, but rarely in TV shows. We get a Batwoman 2.0. Kate Kane, played by Ruby Rose, is the original, and also the cousin of Bruce Wayne. By the end of season 2, Ryan Wilder, played by Javicia Leslie takes over the mantle.
On top of the TV series, there’s the animated web series Vixen (2015) which has Mari McCabe using her family’s Totem to gain the power of animals. Also, there’s Freedom Fighters: The Ray (2017) following Ray Terrill who becomes a crime fighting hero after gaining Light based powers.
Bottom line, DC and CW work heavily to weave these shows into each other using devices like Crossover episodes and overlapping casting. All said, if you’re a DC comic fan, there’s a ridiculous amount of character cameos happening in this Universe. Check it out.