10 Best Movie Sequels (Not Directed By The Original Filmmaker)

1. The Empire Strikes Back

The Color Of Money Tom Cruise
Lucasfilm

The Empire Strikes Back is not only viewed by many as the greatest Star Wars movie, not just is it viewed as the greatest sequel ever, but some people hold Empire up on a pedestal as their absolute favourite film ever.

What many more casual moviegoers might not be aware of, though, is that Star Wars creator George Lucas was not in the director's chair for this 1980 picture.

Lucas produced The Empire Strikes Back and came up with the loose story of the film, yet it was Irvin Kershner - best known at that point for helming 1976's The Return of a Man Called Horse and 1978's Eyes of Laura Mars - who served as Empire's director.

Kershner would only direct two more movies after The Empire Strikes Back, with those being 007's Never Say Never outing and then RoboCop 2. Both of those films were solid offerings, yet nothing Irvin Kershner could have ever done would've been able to match the quality of what audiences were given in Episode V.

To this day, The Empire Strikes Back remains the benchmark for Star Wars films, for sequel pictures, and for anything laced in even a semblance of science fiction or conflict. And remarkably, it's the only movie of the initial six Star Wars films not to be helmed by the legendary George Lucas.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.