- This time, make it personal
- Increase the stakes: what if the whole world needs the hero now?
- Bluff your way out of a plot by adding well-known actors
- Bring back the bad guy. Have it be personal, this time.
- If it was based on a book: check to see if there is a sequel you can destroy
- Increase the time span
- Show things only mentioned in the original
- Introduce a brother, father, son, girlfriend, or friend
- Have the characters meet up by accident many years later
- Make the bad guys more powerful, perhaps misrepresent evolution in the process
- Can former enemies unite in the face of a common foe?
- Go back to how it all started
- Think of intricate ways to get the cast back together: perhaps they angered someone in the original who will go through great lengths to get back at them all at once, thus ensuring an action-packed, if unbelievable sequel
- Does any of the cast seem like it might be going through a major life event? Perhaps puberty, coming back from college, or a heart attack might work.
- Send the main character to Africa/Europe/Asia/South America/An Island/Space/Another Dimension!
- Perhaps there was a hidden significance to some events in the original.
- Joe Pesci
Don’t forget to make the leading lady from the original a fembot so she is understandably replaced a la Austin Powers 2.