Famous Movie Characters' Surprising Futures According to Their Hidden Book Sequels

Films often offer snapshots of the lives of their protagonists that capture a specific moment in their journey, but the world of literature offers a broader view of what happens to their characters after the credits roll.

Here are iconic movie characters and their post-movie lives perfectly captured in their book sequels.

Fight Club (1999)

In Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club 2, the story takes a bizarre turn when the Narrator, now called Sebastian, marries Marla and they have a son, Junior. Marla, unhappy with the marriage, tries to revive Tyler Durden, and this leads to disturbing events, including the resurrection of a character from the original story.

The story also breaks the fourth wall with Palahniuk as a character and faces criticism for being overly complex and critical of the original work. Despite this, Palahniuk continued the story in 2019 with Fight Club 3.

Forrest Gump (1994)

Winston Groom's sequel, Gump & Co., to the popular story attempts to reconcile the Forrest Gump novel with its highly successful film adaptation. However, the sequel takes a different path from the movie, killing off Jenny, Forrest's love interest, and leading Forrest on a wild and unpredictable journey that includes stints in the NFL, the shrimping business, and various scandals.

The book concludes with Forrest's meeting with Tom Hanks and receiving an Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Not everyone knows that the classic story of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on the beloved novel by Roald Dahl, also has a second book, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The sequel picks up the story right after the events of the first movie, with Wonka's appointment of Charlie as his successor.

They use the glass elevator to travel to Charlie's home, but things take a bizarre turn when the elevator goes into orbit, causing a diplomatic incident with the American Space Hotel USA, various encounters with aliens, and an age-reversing vitamin problem.

Drive (2011)

James Sallis' novel Drive was adapted into a stylish neo-noir film by Nicholas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling as the silent and brooding Driver. At the end of the film, Driver survives but loses everything but his life.

In Sallis' sequel, Driven, Driver, now living in Phoenix as Paul West, faces new turmoil after the murder of his fiancée. Despite the potential for a cinematic sequel, Refn and Gosling decided not to revisit the story, with Refn satisfied with the ending of the original film.

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby is a chilling horror film that follows the ordeal of Rosemary Woodhouse, who suspects that her neighbors are involved in dark rituals. In Ira Levin's sequel, Son of Rosemary, the story continues as Rosemary awakens from a coma in 1999 to find her son, Andy, now a charismatic Christian leader.

But when she becomes suspicious of his organization's sinister plans, Rosemary must face the dark scenario her son has created and explore a sinister underworld.