I don’t know if you’re posting this as a joke. Because if you’re serious, Riddick and Escape from Butcher Bay are already out there, and are both decent.
I’d like to see Suzanne Collins try to come up with a prequel to The Hunger Games, that believably describes how 21st century USA goes through complete political and cultural collapse (and yet leaves technology virtually unscathed, to the point where it is far beyond anything currently even speculated as possible at the time of the events in the story).
Because I don’t believe it can be done. And her devoting the rest of her career to making the attempt would save us from any more here’s-a-dystopia-don’t-worry-how-it-got-there narratives. From her, anyway.
I think there was some kind of natural catastrophe. I thought it was intelligent how she obfuscated it in the books as being something taught in history classes that Katniss wasn’t sure about to begin with and didn’t care much about anyway.
What I wondered was how the rest of the world was doing.
Jill Paton Walsh’s, latest Peter Wimsey novel, The Attenbury Emeralds, is the story, largely told in flashbacks, of Peter Wimsey’s first case. Her books are a surprisingly good homage to the Dorothy L. Sayers original novels.
I’d like to see a prequel recounting Mervyn Bunter’s demobilization from his WWI service, and traveling to Duke’s Denver to take service with his lordship, who was suffering from severe PSTD, then called “shell-shock”. The Dowager Dutchess (Peter’s mother) “liked the looks of the fellow” and took him on to care for Peter and get him back on his feet.
Med Student Who ?
I would like to see Michael Corleone earning his Navy Cross on… it doesn’t say where… I’m thinking maybe Peleliu. Sonny never gave him enough credit for being able to become the stone cold killer he would become.
Deep Throat.
It’s fun to speculate on the back-story of just about any interesting movie character if it’s not shown in the film. But it’s always dicey to make a good prequel. I think the Star Wars franchise did a lot of damage to itself by being too clever in tying everything together. Darth Vader built C3PO, Chewbacca knew Yoda, etc. But that said, here are some stories I might like to see:
Martin Riggs of Lethal Weapon in the special forces, discovering he’s one of the best marksmen in the world.
The previous careers of Dave Bowman and Frank Poole in 2001. We know what happens to them for hundreds of years into the future, but I’d be interested in their other spaceflights. That might be an alternate timeline during the Apollo years.
Paul Newman’s character in The Sting.
Anthony Hopkins’ character in The Remains of the Day. Some of his upbringing and background is in the book, but I’d love to see a more in-depth treatment of how he became the man who was Lord Darlington’s loyal butler.
Men In Black, going back to the formation of the agency. Has that already been done in the comic books? I’m only familiar with the films.
Jaws, specifically Quint on the Indianapolis and starting out as a shark hunter.
All of the characters in The Great Escape. How they ended up as POWs.