Sci-fi movies and TV shows have been around for so long now that a significant number of them have been rebooted and/or revived. The reason for bringing these sci-fi franchises back to screens can vary. Sometimes, there is more story to tell because so much time has passed since the original era, but it can often be a more business-led decision that allows studios to cash in on the nostalgia of devoted fans. Either way, the blueprint has experienced mixed results over the years. I’ve loved some of these revivals, but some have felt depressingly unnecessary.
That being said, I’m not here to rank the best sci-fi franchise revivals. Instead, let’s take a look at instances where a sci-fi franchise returned with all its previous canon still intact, even though it felt like someone had actually hit the reset button. That’s what’s important to bear in mind here. “Revival” and “reboot” are not interchangeable terms. A reboot, also known as a remake, casts the previous continuity aside, harvesting and reworking certain elements to place alongside fresh additions to the canon. A revival, on the other hand, is essentially a sequel that has been a long time coming. It’s not always clear which is which, though, especially at first.
‘Star Trek’ (2009)
J.J. Abrams Creatively Kept the Original Canon Intact
When J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek movie premiered in 2009, the franchise had been in something of a dry spell. It had been four years since Star Trek: Enterprise had concluded, which ended a prolific run of shows on the small screen. Sadly, the waning interest in Enterprise resulted in a hiatus after the show ended, which is where this movie comes in. The overhauled aesthetic and rampant re-casting of iconic characters framed Abrams’ first Star Trek film as a hard reboot of The Original Series. However, as it turned out, Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk and company simply existed in a new reality called the Kelvin Timeline, making the 2009 project part of the pre-established Star Trek multiverse.
As the Kelvin trilogy went on, this element of the story moved further and further into the background, making it feel like a more traditional hard reboot. Regardless, it can’t be ignored that these three movies did not reset the canon, as once seemed to be the intention. Personally, I think this was a fantastic call by Abrams, and very respectful. Introducing a new timeline that directly acknowledged the others was a great way to bring back existing fans ready for more, as well as appealing to a fresh crop of Trekkies. Furthermore, because the Kelvin timeline didn’t eclipse the Prime Universe, the latter was able to return with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, and the other underrated modern shows that have spawned since.
‘Quantum Leap’ (2022)
Scott Bakula’s Absence Didn’t Change NBC’s Sequel Plans
Quantum Leap originally ran for five seasons and 97 episodes between 1989 and 1993. Although it’s still fondly remembered as a sci-fi cult classic, declining viewership ultimately resulted in a hasty cancellation that didn’t provide enough time for a satisfying conclusion. As such, there was always the lingering question of what happened to Scott Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett, and if he ever reached home. Although Bakula was approached to reprise his role for the 2022 revival, he turned it down after reading the pilot, describing the decision to do so as “very difficult,” according to Deadline.
Still, while NBC did pivot in the wake of Bakula’s decision, 2022’s Quantum Leap remained a legacy sequel to the original series, but with a new set of characters. Even though the canon wasn’t reset, the show’s return went in hard on reminding the audience of its time travel rules, with Raymond Lee’s Dr. Ben Song taking the place of Bakula’s character as he inhabited the bodies and minds of random people in need from across the timeline. I would have totally understood if NBC hit the hard reboot button, given the initial desire to bring the show back without its former leading man. On the other hand, it might well have done. Any kind of connection to Sam is tangential at best. Following another unexpected cancellation in 2024, the revival also has an unsatisfying conclusion with a cliffhanger that will probably never be resolved.
‘Jurassic World’ (2015)
Chris Pratt’s Franchise Debut Marked a New Jumping-On Point
1993’s Jurassic Park is an unquestionable classic, falling into many all-time great categories, including Steven Spielberg’s best movies. The same can’t be said about the franchise’s first two sequels, which dropped in 1997 and 2001. The trilogy was incredibly front-heavy, with only the first movie standing the test of time. The failure to bring back the original three leads of Sam Neil, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldman to appear together in any other installment in the trilogy didn’t help matters. By 2015, Universal was ready to bring the franchise back, but the unquestionably legendary status boasted by the 1993 classic meant moving on from that timeline was not an option.
Even though it meant keeping the lukewarm Lost World and Jurassic Park III canonically intact, the Chris Pratt-led Jurassic World established itself in the same universe, where dinosaur theme park owners were revealed not to have learned much from the mistakes of their predecessors. The revival’s roadmap ultimately led to the long-awaited return of the original golden trio, with Neil, Dern, and Goldblum all coming back for the third and final installment of this modern trilogy. It was clearly what everyone was hoping would happen one day, and it wouldn’t have been possible if Universal had headed in the hard reboot direction in 2015. The franchise has since done something similar with 2025’s Jurassic World Rebirth, moving Pratt and company aside.
‘Doctor Who’ (2005)
The Ninth Doctor Is Still Essentially the First for Many Whovians
Doctor Who had an impressive run from its 1963 premiere to its 1989 cancellation, when the BBC pulled the plug due to plummeting viewing figures. After a failed attempt to revive the franchise with a 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Russell T Davies was revealed to be the shepherd required to bring Doctor Who back to greatness. Although the McGann movie also felt like an Americanized reboot of sorts, the return of Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor to pass the torch immediately confirmed the feature-length flop as a sequel to the show’s classic era.
However, when Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor made his debut in 2005, the off-screen Time War that had happened since we last saw the Doctor allowed for a functional wiping clean of the slate. The Doctor Who universe had been through such a profound event that it felt like a new version of reality. This was also helped along by the updated cinematography and increased budget, but when it all came together, it was Doctor Who as no one had ever seen it before, which helped it masquerade as a hard reboot. Any mention of the Doctor’s past required little context beyond what was mentioned in the revival, which both made the classic era optional viewing and the show’s main character more mysterious in a way that felt intentional.
‘Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens’ (2015)
It Felt Just Like ‘A New Hope’
No serious Star Wars fan was buying a Force Awakens ticket in 2015 expecting to see the franchise rebooted. The fact that Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and other legacy characters were confirmed to be in the movie meant it would have been bizarre to start from scratch. That didn’t stop The Force Awakens from following incredibly closely in the footsteps of 1977’s A New Hope. Everything from the sand-planet-dwelling protagonist dreaming of something more, all the way to the unveiling of a new planet-destroying superweapon, created the uncanny impression of the original trilogy being remade rather than expanded upon.
The 2015 movie was obviously intended to create a new generation of Star Wars fans, and it succeeded in doing so. The fact that it borrowed so heavily from A New Hope is still something that irritates me a little, though. The Force Awakens is easily the strongest of the three sequel trilogy movies, but it earns that status by doing little more than altering a little of George Lucas’ original Star Wars script and bringing back a few old (albeit beloved) faces. The new cast never really manages to stand up on its own, and I think that’s because of the franchise’s revival having one eye on also being a very soft reboot.
‘Terminator Genisys’ (2015)
This One Was a Much-Needed Breather
The Terminator franchise’s time travel rules are notoriously hard to track. Although they started simple enough in the first two movies, the films and TV shows that followed have wreaked havoc with the continuity as various writers try to undo and then restore certain events and timelines. Terminator Genisys was the fifth movie in the series, and although it wasn’t the first film to try and put its own spin on the saga’s confusing temporal goings-on, it was the first to stop, take a breath, and think about how to set things straight.
The 2015 movie reestablishes the basic premise of the original story from the 1984 franchise-starter, but then diverges into a new timeline that takes place parallel to the original version of events. As far as jumping-on points go for Terminator movies, it’s either this or the original. The original is vastly superior in terms of quality, but Genisys ticks most of the same boxes when it comes to getting newcomers up to speed and then moving forward. Most importantly, it’s a high-concept Terminator revival rather than the beginning of an entirely new continuity.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ (2021)
The Return of Bill Murray & Company Doesn’t Alienate New Fans
Granted, the presence of the original cast in Afterlife means its emotional potential is only fully paid off if you’ve already seen at least the original Ghostbusters from 1984. It’s not essential to do any homework going into the 2021 legacy sequel, though. Bill Murray and company still occupy an important place in the story, but franchise newcomers like Paul Rudd and Finn Wolfhard are framed as the new leads. As such, although Afterlife is one of the least reboot-like revivals on this list, it still counts.
What makes this revival stand out especially strongly is that it came on the heels of Ghostbusters‘ attempt to actually undergo a hard reboot. The 2016 all-female reimagining of the original four-piece team appeared in just one movie, which was a commercial and critical flop. Although several factors contributed to this, the casting aside of all precious, nostalgic lore was probably a big reason the movie failed to hit the mark. Afterlife was the reboot that Ghostbusters actually needed, and it just so happens to have come in the form of a legacy revival instead.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
