Five times a movie franchise said it was ending and lied
In 2025, after almost three decades of thrilling audiences and feeding Tom Cruise’s ego, the Mission: Impossible series has finally come to an end. At least, we think it’s ended. The most recent movie, The Final Reckoning, sounds pretty definitive. It’s got the word ‘Final’ in there, after all. Surely, Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, and everyone else involved with the franchise wouldn’t lie to us, the loyal viewers, who have kept it going for so many years? Yeah, about that…
Moviegoers should always be worried when they’re told something is the ‘last entry’ in a series. History is littered with examples of franchises feeling like they’re winding down, only for them to roar back to life and drag on for another few years, or even decades. Some of these false endings are merely implied, while others are explicitly stated, and then ignored.
Basically, if a studio or director thinks they can make more money by making more movies, then they’ll do it. It doesn’t matter if they set up the perfect finale already, killed off a key character, or even if one of the lead actors is retired or dead. In Hollywood, cash is king, and that’s all that matters.
We look forward to seeing Mission: Impossible 12—No Really, This Is It Now Guys, Honest in theatres in 2045. For now, let’s look at five times movie franchises lied to us about biting the bullet and milked our emotions.
Five times movie franchises lied about ending
‘Toy Story’
Released in 1995, the original Toy Story changed the game for animation. The first ever fully computer-animated feature not only won the hearts of audiences across the globe, but also established Pixar as a major player in the industry. Then, 15 years after Woody, Buzz, and the gang had first come together, fans got the chance to say goodbye with the heartfelt, tear-jerking, and sometimes terrifying Toy Story 3. The shot of Andy leaving his toys with Bonnie captured every aspect of growing up and leaving one’s childhood behind. It was the perfect send-off for the series… or so we all thought.
Fans were furious when it was announced that a fourth ‘Toy Story’ movie was in the works, due to be released nine years after they thought Pixar had closed this chapter of their history. Toy Story 4 isn’t a bad film by any stretch, dealing with the ideas of being a ‘lost toy’ and even getting existential when a homemade plaything comes to life. Even so, some people felt betrayed that the franchise had essentially gaslit them into thinking it was over. Lord knows what the reaction is going to be when Toy Story 5 hits theatres.
Wolverine
While there is no Wolverine franchise to speak of, the character became the breakout star of Fox’s X-Men series in the early 2000s. Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of the gruff Canadian mutant was so popular that it spawned a series of spin-offs, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which everybody hated, and The Wolverine, which was really boring. He even turned up in a handful of the X-Men prequel films, before bowing out in James Mangold’s superb pseudo-Western Logan in 2017. Wolverine’s death while protecting X-23 (Dafne Keen) was clearly meant to be a tender farewell to the character and an endorsement of his young clone as his successor. Then along came that damn mouse…
When Disney bought Fox in 2019, it dumped all of the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Smelling an opportunity to finally pay off all the teasing that Ryan Reynolds had been doing over the years, Deadpool & Wolverine was announced. Fans wondered how they were going to bring back the cherished character without stepping all over Logan’s legacy. The film itself asks that same question in its opening scene, before proceeding to just bring him back anyway, hoping that Deadpool’s fourth wall-breaking whimsy would be an appropriate cover. It wasn’t.
Puppet Master
The rest of this list will be used to highlight series that explicitly told audiences that they were wrapping up, only to abandon that philosophy years later. In the case of Puppet Master, that promise lasted just four years. The first movie was released in 1989 and told the story of a group of marionettes brought to life by an Ancient Egyptian spell who then go on a killing spree. Despite being a straight-to-video release, the film was a hit, prompting a sequel to be commissioned almost immediately.
The series rolled on until 1994, when Puppet Master 5 was released with the subtitle ‘The Final Chapter’, and it saw an ancient Pharaoh send his demonic doll to kill series protagonist Rick, played by Gordon Currie, and steal his magic. However, demand for a new instalment was just too high, so a sixth entry, Curse of the Puppet Master, hit shelves four years later. That was only the beginning. Since its “final chapter” was released, there have been ten new ‘Puppet Master’ films, the most recent one being in 2022. Turns out these dummies were quite a smart investment.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’
What is it with horror franchises and not knowing when to die? When it comes to on-screen villains, few are as infamous and instantly recognisable as Freddy Krueger. The bladed glove-wielding terror of Springwood, Ohio, made his debut (alongside Johnny Depp) in Wes Craven’s stellar slasher, immediately capturing audience attention with his blood-soaked antics. Naturally, a franchise followed, ending definitively with 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. That sounds pretty conclusive, right? The use of the words ‘dead’ and ‘final’ like that? You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but you know what this list is about.
Three years on from his apparent demise, the original director returned to the character with Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. This movie, which depicted Krueger as a fictional villain set loose in the real world, isn’t part of the official canon, but you know what is? Freddy vs Jason. This contentious crossover marked the first ‘proper’ return for Freddy since his apparent demise, leaving fans in no doubt that they had been misled by the 1991 film and its title. Freddy hasn’t been seen since a dire reboot was attempted in 2010, but you can bet your bottom dollar he’s still out there, waiting patiently to make another comeback.
‘Friday the 13th’
It’s one thing for a franchise to announce its ‘final’ movie and then reappear, but hats (and hockey masks) off to Friday the 13th, which has pulled this stunt not once, but twice. The first instance took place in 1984, when the fourth film in the series, subtitled ‘The Final Chapter’, hit cinemas. That movie ended with the apparent death of Jason Voorhees, but he was far from gone. After using a copycat killer as the villain for the next movie, the series straight-up resurrected its most famous character in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Not messing around with these subtitles, are they?
Seven years after his return, fans were once again titillated when it was revealed that the ninth movie in the series would be called Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. That film ends with none other than our old pal Freddy Krueger dragging Voorhees down to the bad place, which should have been a sign that he wasn’t gone for good. There have been three more ‘Friday’ movies since this one, including the infamous Freddy vs Jason, and a dismal 2009 reboot. Maybe the third time’s the charm? Or maybe this franchise has been cursed with eternal life.30
