What's one piece of media (TV show, anime, manga, comics, webcomics, franchise, etc) you think can continue even without the main character or even the main crew?

[raykv423 1,689]

It's been a while since I'm on this website and admittedly the glitch issues kept me away from it for a good while and I got so much going on irl so this is probably a rare post from me. 
 

Back to the topic, I keep seeing lot of comments about that one particular show or whatever cannot continue without the main lead or even the main cast of characters. So what's one piece of media you think can actually continue with the main lead or the main crew? 

Edited July 2, 2023 by raykv423

[ZiggWheelsManning 10,295]

In the music world this happened.  Lynyrd Skynyrd reformed in 1987 with Johnny Van Zant on the leading mic a decade after his big brother Ronnie Van Zant, several beloved bandmates and many friends died in the October 1977 plane crash.  Many people to this day are very mixed to turned off by stage performances and music recorded by the Johnny Lynyrd Skynyrd era.  To give credit where its due, Johnny recorded an awesome tribute to his legendary big brother Ronnie.  

On the other side of the world, I'm sure the Irish band Celtic Woman, has no original band members.  

[Last Line of Defense 98]

Well they're testing Pokemon without Ash & Pikachu and I can't say I approve. But I'm not that deep into it yet and it's still subbed.

Dragon Ball Z notoriously removed Goku from the main plotline very often, and that added interesting dimensions to the show.

But one WHERE IT HASNT BEEN DONE, and I'm not saying this because the protagonist is bad or because I don't like them but rather because the worlds the exist inside of are so diverse and full of potential that they could easily tell the story from multiple perspectives... I'd say Owl House and Amphibia both could be told in their respective universe's with different leads and supporting characters.. 

I think a lot of shows exist like this, we don't need forced appropriation/inclusion, it isn't thought provoking, revolutionary, creative, or even slightly necessary, it's forced, inauthentic and cringe. Owl House side canons are a literal nightmare. Like just let Willow and Hunter be normal xD 

 I'm so sick of this, quit taking identities/trying to take identities and mold them into something they aren't for clout... It's annoying straight white men are great and made the world, this dudes a 1700s witch hunter my god lol...

Things don't get more interesting bc ppl go "look, look, look, that person's like me" it's oversaturating media and it's ruining actual creativity and it's literally stealing from OC and actual characters and their ACTUAL IDENTITIES 

 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

The wolf from hellofaboss

[User without a name 47]

infinity train changed its main protagonist every season so I think it could keep that up if it didn't get canceled

[Twinkie Pie 96]

Probably Twilight, Starlight is just Season 1 Twilight but she looks different.

[Sunny_Skyes 148]

Bluey could work, actually. Frisky would be a pretty fun protagonist if we got more of her. 

[Iforgotmybrain 5,667]

Dragon Ball. They’ve flirted with having Gohan replace Goku since the Cell saga so wouldn’t be completely out of left field.

[Megas 27,625]

I’m still in the camp that DBZ could and should have continued with Gohan being the new hero 

Also Transformers, G1 infamously killed off Optimus Prime much of the G1 lineup and replaced with Rodimus and others like Arcee and Ultra Magnus, didn’t go so well. Looking back though it probably would’ve been better had they stuck with Rodimus especially since the episode before Optimus’s return had Rodimus finally accept his role. On the subject of Optimus, Rescue Bots is probably the best example of the franchise being able to stand out on its own without needing the mainstays

[Rafa Stary 2,991]

It depends, are you talking about getting rid of the character(s) completely or just giving leadership to a new protagonist(s)? Because one of the things I imagine G5 could have done was give focus to Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, Zipp and Misty but keep Twilight and the original Mane Six around, serving as some kind of masters for the new Mane Six. Now that would be completely different from them getting rid of the old characters and just focusing on the new ones (which is pretty much hat happened).

In General, in my opinion it depends on the size of the impact that the new characters have, I will use Dragon Ball as an example, Goku was there for many years, the impact he had cannot be calculated, you think about Dragon Ball, you think about Goku, his face with that weird spiky hair became the face of the Dragon Ball franchise, I'm 90% sure that if Gohan and other characters took the lead from now on, Goku would still be there (as a kind of master, just like I said about the Mane Six if they continued in G5), because he is the reference, this goes beyond the story of the cartoon/comic, his image is also what sells merchandise, video games and other derivative products.

Now I'm going to talk about My Little Pony, no one or almost no one cared that G4 rebooted the previous generations with completely different new characters, this means that the impact the characters from G1 and G3 had was little, now, G4 came out in 2010, we are in 2024, look at the MLP fandom, the fanarts, fansites, fanvideos, 90% of them continue to make content mostly based on G4 and its characters, many people didn't like G5 or even watched it, G5 is already 3 years old and the impact it had doesn't even come close to that of G4. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Celestia, CMC, all those characters and the world of G4, left a huge and strong mark on the MLP franchise, so huge and so strong that if the franchise replaced them, it would be almost impossible to succeed.

G5 doesn't compare to it, people think about MLP, they think about the Mane Six and G4's art style, the casual public may not even be aware that G5 exists, this means that in the case of MLP, changing the main cast didn't work, the general public still hasn't swallowed the new Mane Six even after 3 years. And Hasbro itself can't move on from G4, they keep making new derivative products about it concurrently with G5 products, what could be the reason?

This is just a very dangerous strategy to make, it's not just for the story, it's for the general audiovisual franchise.

So, with all that in mind, in summary, for me if it's a series like Dragon Ball or MLP G4 where the protagonists were there for a long time and left too big of an impact, no, I don't think it can continue, it has to be very lucky to be able to continue without them, now if it's a series that frequently changes its main cast with each new installment, yes I think it can continue, as seen in some videogame series.