prequel

American  

[pree-kwuhl] / ˈpri kwəl /

noun

1. a literary, dramatic, or filmic work that prefigures a later work, as by portraying the same characters at a younger age.

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prequel British  

/ ˈpriːkwəl /

noun

1. a film or book about an earlier stage of a story or a character's life, released because the later part of it has already been successful

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Etymology

Origin of prequel

First recorded in 1970–75; pre- + (se)quel

Explanation

A prequel is an installment in a series of books or movies which describes action that occurred in the past, before the original. Monsters University, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace are famous film prequels. The word prequel is most often used for movies, along with sequel, the follow-up to the initial story. Filmmakers sometimes like to fill in background information with a prequel, though fans often complain that prequels don't live up to the original (think of the original Star Wars films and their prequels, for example). The earliest known use of prequel described a 1958 installment of a science fiction story, and the word was common by the 1970s.

Example Sentences

Prequel series House of the Dragon began in 2022.

From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026

‘Many Predicted Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” Prequel Would be a Disaster.

From New York Times • Sep. 1, 2022

Prequel "House of the Dragon", which is set 200 years before the original series, is scheduled to premiere this year.

From Reuters • Feb. 2, 2022

"The Bad Batch" serves as the spinoff successor to the "The Clone Wars" cartoon, set after the events of the Prequel Trilogy when the Jedi have fallen.

From Salon • Aug. 14, 2021

Prequel to the action film franchise about the famed martial arts instructor.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2020