Streaming Franchise Extensions That Hit – And Missed – In 2024

Streaming series have been an integral part of studio franchises for the past decade, extending the story worlds developed on the big screen and keeping fans’ appetites whetted between big budget installments. This year studios seemed to get a little smarter about the storytelling strategies of these “satellite series,” although there were a couple of high profiles misses to go along with the hits.

MCU: Agatha All Along and What If…?

Pursuant to Disney’s new strategy of dialing down the frequency of Marvel streaming product following a string of lackluster results, we only got a couple of entries this year. Agatha All Along, the WandaVision follow-on with Katheryn Hahn reprising her role as the MCU’s resident magical chaos agent Agatha Harkness, surrounded by a terrific ensemble cast of Joe Locke, Saheer Zamata, Ali Ahn and Aubrey Plaza, lulled viewers into a rhythm with the early episodes before piling on the twists and reveals. It accomplished the neat trick of expanding the fabric of the MCU by bringing some deep currents to the surface, while also succeeding on its own terms, not requiring a PhD in Marvelology to figure out what’s going on or what’s important. It’s clocking a respectable 84% (critics)/83% (audience) Rotten Tomatoes score, one of the highest for a Marvel series in a while.

At the end of the year, we got a third season of the gloriously-animated What If? As the series is still dropping episodes through December 29, we won’t get a complete read on the storyline until then, but the episodes that have appeared are visually dynamic and chock full of superstar voice acting from original MCU cast members. Season 2 in 2023 lit up Rotten Tomatoes with a 90% critics score. Season 3 is within sight of that, currently at 75%, depending on whether it can stick the landing. Season 2 turned out to be integral to the feature film storylines in a clever way. Expect Season 3 to have a similar impact. (Both currently on Disney+)

DCU: The Penguin and Creature Commandos

This is another work in progress on multiple fronts. James Gunn dug deep in the catalog to find the launching pad for his reinvented DC screen universe. It’s a shrewd move. The whole point of DC is its ridiculously long bench of characters and properties dating back to the 1930s, most of which being blank templates on which new generations of creators can impose their own characterizations and twists. Gunn’s ensemble cast of obscure misfits like Dr. Phosphorous, GI Robot and DC’s versions of Frankenstein’s Monster and his Bride have so far given us a great mix of antic comic violence and poignant character flashbacks. The animation isn’t as jaw dropping as Marvel’s, but it’s great at delivering storytelling beats.

We won’t know how it ends for another couple of weeks, and we won’t know how it rolls into Superman or the rest of Gunn’s bigger plans for the DC Universe for a while, so call it an “incomplete” on the transmedia scorecard. Regardless, fans and critics are eating it up, giving it a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score. (Currently on Max)

The Penguin is a completely different kettle of fish. Structured more like a prestige crime series in the spirit of The Sopranos than an extension of DC’s The Batman franchise, the series wowed fans and critics alike with Colin Farrell’s astonishing turn as Oz Cobb, the title character. Tight, tense scripts, great cinematography, and great acting up and down the line made this MAX series one of the highest rated shows of 2024, with 95% critics/92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dune: Prophecy

Following up Denis Villeneuve’s two part feature film adaptation of James Herbert’s Dune with the ambitious Dune: Prophecy, which just wrapped up its six-episode arc on Max, was an expensive roll of the dice that seems to have paid off. The thing about adapting Dune is that its fans both expect the adaptation to be 100% faithful to the very dense novel, but then know in advance 100% of what’s going to be onscreen. Villeneuve managed to please both the die-hards and novices with his massive epic, creating a commercial predicate for delving deeper into the expanding Dune-verse moving forward. Herbert and his son have churned out 23 since 1965, of varying quality, so there’s a lot more under the shifting sands.

Dune: Prophecy is something of a Dune origin story, going back 10,000 years from the events of the film to trace the beginnings of the Imperium and the mysterious and manipulative Bene Gesserit order. The depth of political intrigue makes this something of a Game of Thrones in Space, with similar emphasis on great acting, slow-burning backstories, and unpredictable body count. It is currently getting a 70% critics/66% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes but it is a promising way to open up the lore of the wider Dune universe for future epic exploration.

Star Wars: Acolyte and Skeleton Crew

Boy did audiences not like Star Wars: Acolyte, the early-summer franchise extension starting Amandia Stenberg, Lee Jung-Jae, Manny Jacinto and Carrie-Anne Moss. Besides the usual divisive “anti-woke” garbage that seems to afflict Star Wars fandom more than most other properties, many people thought the series didn’t succeed even on its own terms. Set at an odd point in the universe chronology, in the later Republic era but a century before the events of the Prequels, the story of intrigue within the Jedi order felt disjointed, confusing and irrelevant, leading to a 19% audience score. Critics were kinder, giving it 78%.

For the holiday season, Skeleton Crew, featuring four kids trying to get back to their home planet and encountering the typical inhabitants of the Star Wars universe, appears to have been more successful for being less ambitious. It’s riding a 90% critics/79% audience score at Rotten Tomatoes, one of the highest for a Star Wars tie in series in a while. (Disney+)

Star Trek: Lower Decks

The lighthearted animated Star Trek series featuring the misadventures of four lower-ranked crewmembers wrapped up its five-season run this fall with another satisfying pod of episodes. The series not only serves as a counterweight to the leaden Picard and Discovery, it also ingeniously brings in other aspects of Trek lore from every corner of the franchise, sometime via plot and other time just as snarky asides between the character. Lower Decks hit a peak last year with the unlikely and hilarious crossover with the live-action Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (another winning franchise extender that makes its return in 2025). Fans should be liking this more than the 72% audience rating it gets on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics appreciate it more, with a 91% aggregate.