Key Takeaways
- A prequel takes place before an existing story but is released after it; it explores the past of established characters, worlds, or conflicts
- Effective prequels complicate the original story through new context, making audiences reinterpret familiar events—they don’t just fill in blanks
- New characters are essential; introducing established characters’ earlier selves alone creates predictability; new relationships create uncertainty and emotional stakes
Introduction
Every story has a past; a villain was once an ordinary person, a legendary friendship began with two strangers, a war defines an entire fictional world started with one decision no one could take back. A prequel travels into that past.
Rather than continuing a story beyond its ending, a prequel explores events that happened earlier. It can reveal how familiar characters changed, show how an important conflict began, or introduce an earlier generation whose choices shaped everything that followed.
However, knowing the future creates a challenge. Audiences may already know who survives, which relationships fail, and how the wider story ends.
A strong prequel can’t rely only on revealing information. It needs its own characters, conflicts, surprises, and emotional stakes. The goal is not simply to explain the original story. It’s to make audiences see it differently.
In today’s blog, we’ll explore what a prequel is and how you can write a killer past for your characters!
Let’s go.
What Is a Prequel?
A prequel is a story set before the events of an existing work. The original film, novel, television series, comic, or game is released first. A later installment then travels backwards in the timeline to explore an earlier period.
A prequel may focus on:
- a younger version of an established character
- the beginning of an important relationship
- the creation of a fictional organisation or society
- the events leading to a war or disaster
- a previous generation
- the rise of a villain
- an unanswered event from the original story
- new characters whose actions influence what happens later
The audience may already know the broad destination, but the prequel reveals the journey.
For example, viewers of Breaking Bad already know who Saul Goodman becomes. Better Call Saul creates tension by exploring how Jimmy McGill gradually moves towards that identity.
Prequel vs Sequel vs Origin Story
Prequels, sequels, and origin stories can overlap, but they describe different relationships between stories.
Prequel
A prequel takes place before a previously released story. It may explain earlier events, but it doesn’t have to focus on the birth of a single character. Or it could explore an entire society, conflict, family, or historical period.
Sequel
A sequel continues the story after the events of an earlier work. It usually explores the consequences of the original ending, introduces a new problem, or follows characters into the next stage of their lives.
If the original story ends with a kingdom being saved, the sequel might reveal the difficulties of rebuilding it.
Origin Story
An origin story explains how a character, group, location, or important idea came to exist in its recognisable form. It might show how a superhero gained their abilities, how a villain developed their worldview, or how a team first came together.
An origin story is not automatically a prequel. If a character’s origin is told in the first story released about them, it’s simply an origin story. It becomes a prequel when it’s released after another story but takes place earlier in the timeline.
A prequel can also avoid being an origin story altogether. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story takes place before the original Star Wars, but its central purpose is not to explain the complete origin of an established lead. It follows a new group of characters involved in obtaining the Death Star plans.
Why Writers Choose Prequels
Prequels allow writers to return to a familiar world while exploring a different kind of story.
To Reveal How a Character Changed
Audiences often meet characters after their most formative experiences have already happened. A prequel can explore the decisions, relationships, losses, and compromises that created the person audiences recognise.
This is particularly effective when the earlier character is noticeably different. The gap between who they were and who they become creates dramatic tension.
To Expand the World
Some fictional worlds contain histories, cultures, conflicts, and generations that are only briefly mentioned in the original story.
A prequel can bring those details to life, and rather than repeatedly following the same protagonist, writers can explore a different location, time period, or section of society. This world-building approach is similar to how documentaries expand historical understanding through focused storytelling about specific periods or communities.
To Reframe the Original Story
The best prequels change how audiences understand familiar events. A former antagonist may become more sympathetic. A trusted institution may be revealed as corrupt. A heroic family legend may turn out to be incomplete.
New information should add complexity rather than simply fill in blanks.
To Explore an Unanswered Question
The original story may contain a mystery that naturally invites further exploration; How did the disaster begin? Why did two former friends become enemies? What happened during the war everyone keeps mentioning?
A prequel can answer that question, but remember, the answer must be dramatic enough to support a complete story. Test the idea: Can this question sustain a full feature film or series, or does it only need a few minutes of explanation?
To Create Tragedy Through Foreknowledge
Sometimes the audience’s knowledge makes a prequel more powerful. Viewers may know that a relationship is doomed or that a hopeful plan will eventually fail. This creates dramatic irony. Ordinary moments gain emotional weight because the audience understands where they are leading.
Famous Prequel Examples
Better Call Saul (2015-2022)
This television series follows Jimmy McGill before he becomes Saul Goodman, the lawyer audiences meet in Breaking Bad.
The series succeeds because Jimmy is not treated as a puzzle with an obvious answer. He has ambitions, relationships, flaws, and moral choices that make his journey compelling even when the audience knows his future identity. The show’s genius is showing that Jimmy doesn’t instantly become Saul: each compromise, each rationalization, each small moral choice gradually shifts who he is. The transformation feels inevitable only in retrospect.
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (1999-2005)
The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith explore the fall of Anakin Skywalker, the collapse of the Jedi Order, and the rise of the Galactic Empire.
Audiences already knew that Anakin would become Darth Vader. The central dramatic question was how a gifted child and hopeful Jedi reached that point. The trilogy’s examination of Anakin’s isolation, fear of loss, and susceptibility to manipulation creates a character study
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The film combines a sequel storyline about Michael Corleone with a prequel storyline showing the early life and rise of his father, Vito. The two timelines create contrast; Vito builds power while forming a family and community, while Michael’s attempts to preserve power leave him increasingly isolated. By paralleling Vito’s rise with Michael’s moral decline, the film uses the prequel structure to examine how the same choices mean different things across generations.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
The film follows the mission to steal the Death Star plans immediately before the events of the original Star Wars. Although the outcome is already known, the individual characters and sacrifices are not. The story creates fresh emotional stakes within a familiar historical event.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
Set decades before The Hunger Games, the story follows a young Coriolanus Snow. Rather than simply listing the events that made him a tyrant, it examines his ambition, insecurity, relationships, and willingness to choose control over empathy.
House of the Dragon (2022-Present)
Set before Game of Thrones, the series explores an earlier era of House Targaryen, and the conflict known as the Dance of the Dragons. Its focus on a previous generation allows the world to feel familiar without repeating the exact story of the original series.
Map out your prequel’s timeline and character arcs using Celtx’s beat sheet and story development tools. Visualizing how events in your prequel connect to the original story helps you identify which revelations will reframe the familiar narrative and which details should remain a mystery.
How to Write a Strong Prequel
Find a Story, Not Just Missing Information
A gap in the original timeline is not automatically worth exploring. The fact that something happened doesn’t mean audiences need to watch it happen.
Look for a period containing meaningful choices, opposing desires, emotional change, and consequences. The prequel should have its own dramatic engine.
Give the Protagonist an Immediate Goal
The character needs to want something within the prequel itself. They may want recognition, freedom, revenge, safety, love, or power. Their goal should matter even to someone who has never encountered the original story.
Don’t rely entirely on the audience wondering when a famous costume, name, weapon, or phrase will appear.
Use Foreknowledge to Create Tension
Knowing the final outcome changes the kind of suspense the story creates.
The audience may know that two characters eventually become enemies, but they don’t know what destroys the relationship. They may know the protagonist survives, but not what surviving costs them. Focus on questions the original story didn’t answer. Shift tension from “what will happen” to “how will it happen” and “what will it cost”, as these are questions prequels can answer uniquely.
Introduce New Characters
A prequel shouldn’t depend entirely on younger versions of familiar people. New friends, rivals, mentors, relatives, and romantic interests create uncertainty because the audience doesn’t already know what happens to them.
They can also reveal sides of established characters that the original story never had a reason to show. See our guide on how to create a character bible to develop how new characters interact with established figures and influence their trajectory.
Create a Complete Arc
The prequel needs a beginning, development, climax, and resolution: it short, a story arc of its own. The ending may connect directly to the original story, but it should also resolve the central conflict introduced within the prequel.
Avoid treating the entire film or series as an extended opening scene for something audiences have already seen.
Add Meaningful Context
New information should deepen character or theme. Perhaps an apparent act of cowardice was once an attempt to protect someone. Maybe a celebrated victory created the conditions for a later disaster.
The most valuable revelations complicate the original story rather than making everything simpler.
Maintain Continuity Without Becoming Trapped by It
A prequel must remain consistent with established events, character histories, and world rules. However, continuity should support the drama rather than overwhelm it. Include details that matter to the current story. Not every prop, line, or minor character needs an elaborate origin.
Common Mistakes
Explaining Everything
Mystery is part of what makes fictional worlds feel larger than the story. Explaining every scar, nickname, object, and personality trait can make the world feel smaller. It’s important to leave some history unexplored.
Relying Too Heavily on References
Familiar locations, characters, and lines can be satisfying, but constant references may make the prequel feel like a collection of rewards for existing fans. Every callback should serve the current story.
H3: Repeating the Original Character Arc
A prequel shouldn’t simply give a younger character the same struggle they face later. Explore a different stage of their development, show the flaw taking root, the belief being formed, or the earlier choice that makes their later behaviour possible.
Forgetting That Audiences Know the Future
Don’t build suspense around an outcome the audience already knows. If a character appears in the original story, viewers will not believe they are about to die in the prequel. Shift the stakes towards relationships, identity, morality, and irreversible loss.
Making the Character Unrecognizable
A younger version shouldn’t be identical to their future self, but there should be a believable connection. Plant qualities, fears, habits, or values that can eventually develop into the established character.
Ending With a Checklist
Weak prequels often rush through several familiar elements at the end: the character receives their name, costume, weapon, catchphrase, and future job in quick succession. Allow important developments to emerge naturally from the story rather than ticking boxes.
FAQ
In release order, yes. A story is described as a prequel because it’s produced or published after an existing work but takes place before it. The earlier story in the fictional timeline doesn’t need to lead directly into the original, but it must occur before it.
Yes. A strong prequel should contain a complete story with clear characters, stakes, and an understandable world. Knowledge of the original may add dramatic irony or extra meaning, but new audiences should still be able to follow the central narrative.
A prequel takes place within the same continuity as an existing story and explores earlier events.
Whereas a reboot starts the property again, often with a new continuity, interpretation, cast, or creative direction. It may retell familiar events rather than expanding the established timeline.
No. It can follow entirely new characters connected to an earlier event, place, or period within the same world. Familiar characters may appear, but they aren’t required. Some of the most successful prequels (like Rogue One) focus primarily on new characters whose actions shape the world for the original story’s heroes.
It can add new context or reveal that characters did not know the full truth. However, completely contradicting established events without a clear reason may frustrate audiences.
Keep reading on the Celtx blog:
- How to Write a Subplot: With Examples from Film & TV
- How to Write a Sequel Without Repeating Yourself
- How to Write a Cold Open (With Examples from Film & TV)
Conclusion
A prequel begins before a familiar beginning, but it still needs to stand as a story in its own right. The best examples do more than explain where characters, conflicts, or objects came from. They reveal meaningful choices, introduce new relationships, and create consequences that echo into the original story.
Audiences may already know the destination. Your task is to make the journey surprising, moving, and necessary. The strongest prequels change not just how audiences understand the past, but how they interpret the original story itself.
Celtx’s tools help screenwriters expand their story world. The beat sheet tool structures your prequel’s dramatic arc while the storyboard visualizes how your story connects to the original timeline. To ensure continuity with established events, use the script breakdown tool . Build connected stories, characters, and timelines all from one platform.
