We’ve covered remakes extensively this summer, but what about their often derided sibling, the sequel? We’re taking the recent release of two high-profile sequels, Joker: Folie à deux and Gladiator 2, as an opportunity to talk about sequels. Are they all creatively bankrupt exercises in IP masturbation, or is there potential in sequels? Is the only good sequel one that gives us more of what we enjoyed the first time around, or should a sequel break with what has gone before and surprise us? Where are Joker 2 and Gladiator 2 on the continuum from more-of-the-same sequels to throw-everything-out-the-window sequels? Is Folie à deux as much of a waste of talent and money as most people said? Is Gladiator 2 a worthwhile return to Rome and to the arena that gets our thumbs-up?

For more thoughts on sequels with a bonus link to Ridley Scott, you may want to check out the following:

• A Damn Fine Espresso: September 2024 (in which Sam and Alan talk about Alien: Romulus, the latest sequel? prequel? something-quel to Ridley Scott’s iconic Alien)
• A Damn Fine Cup of Culture Podcast #67: Second Chances – Two Androids called David (in which Alan and Matt discuss Prometheus, as well as Steven Spielberg’s A.I.)

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