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* Manga artist Miwa Ueda orphaned the series ''[[Peach Girl]]: Sae's Story'' after two and a half volumes, because the birth of her child left her with little time to work on it.
* ''[[Aqua Knight]]'' was abandoned by the author in order to work on ''[[Gunnm]]: Last Order''. He promises to be back later in the future, but the longer ''Last Order'' runs the less likely this seems.
** For that matter, only two OAV episodes of the ''Gunnm'' anime were ever produced. Even if anybody was interested in reviving an anime version, it wouldn't legally be possible until after [[James Cameron]] releases his live-action film adaptation... which, in turn, he won't get around to making until after he finishes two sequels to ''[[Avatar (
* The manga [[Hellsing]]: The Dawn, 6 chapters since 2007, not enough to release a ''single'' collected volume.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' artist Takeuchi Naoko had several orphaned series in the wake of the end of her hit franchise. The first was ''PQ Angels'', which was discontinued abruptly after only 4 chapters, and Kodansha lost the proofs of the portion that had been written. The manga was never published outside of its original serial run. Her second series, ''Love Witch'', ran for three chapters, at which point Takeuchi had written that she was taking a vacation from which the series never returned outside of a one-shot side story. It was not until the 2005-2006 run of ''Toki* Meca'', expanded from the one-shot ''Toki-Meka'', that Takeuchi saw a series through to its completion again.
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* ''Fire Candy'''s mangaka left off her work after two volumes to begin another, although she did state in her last note that she'd like to return to the series after gaining more experience.
* One of the more notable [[OEL Manga|OEL]] titles to go out like this was ''No Man's Land'', which the publisher heavily promoted and commenced work on a Flash adaptation of. Problems with the creator's schedules sadly led to the series dying after only two volumes.
* The ''[[Strawberry Panic
* For a long time, the manga ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' appeared to be an example, having been put on a hiatus for over two years. However, the mangaka has started writing chapters for it again.
** ...and then proceeded to put it ''back'' on hiatus so she could start another series. Yukiru Sugisaki has a history of this (see also ''[[Candidate for Goddess]]'' above.) At least she stopped at the end of an arc.
*** The manga has once again been picked up. But how long it ''stays'' that way is up for grabs.
* ''[[
** The same thing happened with a short lived series ''Shanghai Youma Kikai'', which was put on hold so Hiromu Arakawa could work on ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''.
** Bisco has stated that she intends to continue ''[[
* ''[[
** Considering ''Beet'''s writer, Riku Sanjo, is now the head writer for ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'', the likelihood of ''Beet'' being picked up again is cast further in doubt.
* Happens constantly with fan translations of manga and fansubs of anime. If you're lucky, another group will pick up where the last one left off. If not... well, best get learning Japanese.
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* ''[[Scud the Disposable Assassin]]'' was this for ten years, due to [[Creator Breakdown]]. It was finished up, working this into the plot as a [[Time Skip]].
* ''Unicorn Isle'' was a fantasy comic by Lee Marrs, c.1987, originally slated to run for 12 issues but cancelled after only 5 for unknown reasons.
* [[Archie Comics]] once made a comic based on ''[[
* When [[Seven Seas Entertainment]] was first starting out and before they began to publish licensed manga, they released several original titles in the manga style. Having vastly misread the market for such titles (as well as the rapid decline of the publishing market since the company's founding), several of these series were cancelled due to low sales, while some others were stopped short due to other issues. Seven Seas has since largely switched to either one-volume releases (with sequels as sales demand), printed versions of original web series that have a high enough readership (such as ''[[Aoi House]]''), or licensed series. Some of the casualties:
** Seven Seas debuted with four OEL series, ''[[Amazing Agent Luna]]'', ''No Man's Land'', ''[[Last Hope]]'', and ''Blade for Barter''. ''Blade for Barter'' was cancelled after a single volume (with the conclusion to the cliffhanger [[The Resolution Will Not Be Televised|published online]] to make it up to people who actually bought the first volume). ''Last Hope'' ran for two volumes with a third teased but then hit a wall when a contractual dispute arose between the publisher and the author that eventually led to the series being cancelled due to market concerns. ''No Man's Land'' was originally heavily publicized and also had a flash series started, but both the books and flash series were scrapped originally due to the artist and author having too many other commitments, and have been essentially cancelled due the company's concerns over the declining publishing market.
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** Seven Seas have several manga and light novels they've licensed, and then never released, such as Ryohgo Narita's ''Vamp''. The kicker is that a few of them are fully translated and ready to be printed, but SSE are reluctant to release them due to market concerns (in the case of ''Vamp!'', they're worried that the series won't appeal to the ''Twilight'' crowd... which it wouldn't, but they're looking in the wrong place. I doubt those fans would be interested in a novel series featuring a [[Crazy Awesome|vampire t-rex]]).
* Bill Willingham's ''Coventry'' went for two issues before it was discontinued. Willingham later wrote two short novels in the same universe. Arguably, his later series ''Fables'' may be a continuation of the ''Coventry'' universe, so perhaps it was not entirely orphaned.
* In the mid 90's, three different companies produced comics based on ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. The first company, Gladestone, published two mini-series set in Season Two before passing it to Marvel. Marvel did an adaptation to ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (
** Moral of the story - don't make comics set in an ever-changing continuity.
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* The ''The Legend of Dragoon'' fic ''Rebirth of a Legend'' was four chapters from the end according to the author. He never came back to finish it.
* The ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' Azulaang fic "Lanterns" has also gone over two and a half years without an update.
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1095253/1/The_New_Students The New Students]. An incredibly good crossover between [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]] and [[Harry Potter]]. No, really.
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4417156/1/Fatal_Error Fatal Error] definitely qualifies for this. It hasn't been updated for more than one year. However, it could be a non-lethal case of [[Author Existence Failure]], since one of the coauthors hasn't written or updated.
* ''[[Final Fighting Fantasy]]'', in [[Left Hanging|the most frustrating way]]. It's been 4 years since the last installment came out, and the prognosis for the final installment doesn't look good.
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6367096/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Breeding_Darkness Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness]'' might have run solely on [[Plot Bunny]] fuel, but it is very well-written, possibly even [[So Cool Its Awesome|brilliant]] (although as always, [[Your Mileage May Vary]]). Unfortunately, the fic seems to have been discontinued due to lack of interest and time to continue writing for it, and has now been put it up for adoption.
* ''[[
* [[The Nunu Bot Show]] is in one, with creator Angry Goran not even logging onto [[YouTube]] for 2 months.
* ''[[The Shoebox Project (Fanfic)|The Shoebox Project]]'' is one of the most highly-rated ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfics ever, but it hasn't been updated since 2008 and never got a proper ending.
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7350801/1/Colonization_First_Contact Colonization: First Contact]'' is a ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
== Film ==
* The first two installments of [[Arthur C. Clarke
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' was originally intended to be a trilogy of trilogies, with the Original Trilogy being in the middle <ref>(although at the time he was Original Trilogy, [[George Lucas]] only had a vague idea of what the stories of the Prequel and Sequel Trilogies would be)</ref>. Lucas ceased making ''Star Wars'' altogether after ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', wanting to do something new -- it wasn't until over a decade later that he'd begin work on the Prequel Trilogy. However, at that time he decided to abandon the Sequel Trilogy entirely and leave ''Star Wars'' as a six-film series.
== Literature ==
* [[Older Than Print]]: At the beginning of ''[[
* Some scholars consider ''[[
* Puffin has apparently announced that the ''Hagwood Triology'', about a shapeshifting, hobbit-like race, has been abandoned by Robin Jarvis. Same fate for ''Intrigues of the Reflected Realm'' series?
* Quest Of The Gypsy by Ron Goulart was supposed to be 6 books long, but stopped after the second book in 1977.
* Stieg Larsson's ''[[Millennium Trilogy]]'' was planned to be a decalogy, but was cut short by [[Author Existence Failure|his sudden death]].
* [[Kim Newman]] writing as Jack Yeovil's ''Demon Download'' series for [[Games Workshop]]'s [[Dark Future (
* Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]] series, which he spent twenty-plus laborious years making until [[Author Existence Failure|he abruptly died]] in the middle of writing the twelfth and final book. (Subverted in that he left behind enough notes that [[Brandon Sanderson|another author]] could, and did, finish it for him.)
* ''Tales of the Nine Charms'' by Erica Farber and J.R. Sansevere had two books published in 2000 and 2001 respectively and claims to be a trilogy. As of 2012, the third book has yet to materialize.
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== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* ''[[
** ''Serenity'' was in fact made because Joss had become convinced that the show could not be revived. Instead, it was intended to finish the story of River and the Academy. Main characters only died because Joss was sure the series would not be renewed.
* ''[[
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In a sort of [[Show Within a Show]] style example, this phenomenon got a reference in the RPG sourcebook ''[[GURPS]] Fantasy II'', where the greatest poet of a certain ancient civilization has been suffering a writer's block for ''thousands'' of years, his magnum opus left one volume short of completion. Rather than an isolated case, this is another symptom of said civilization's stagnated nature.
* While the game itself has continued without a hitch, Konami is notorious for creating and then dropping various deck archetypes for the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game. While the anime-based ones are forgivable, the original ones are not, especially when some of those archetypes are left orphaned with only an opening hand's worth of cards to their name. Fortunately, Konami seems to be realizing that they have those archetypes orphaned, and are starting to readopt them with new support in the game's more recent sets.
* ''[[
** On the subject of the oWoD, both ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming]]'' and ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' were ended before the other lines, and both were left incomplete. In Changeling's case, ''Book of Glamour'' was announced, but never saw light of day, and the Kithbook series was cut short, with the Boggans and Sidhe not done (though ''Nobles: the Shining Host'' is considered an unofficial Sidhe Kithbook). Wraith's Guildbook series was also left unfinished, with five of the thirteen Great Guilds not covered.
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* Before being released, 6 episodes for ''[[Shenmue]]'' were planned. The first episode was critically acclaimed, but [[Flop|flopped]] financially, so they decided to make the series shorter, by merging episodes 2,3,4 AND 5 into a single episode, leaving the series with only 3 episodes. But ''[[Shenmue|Shenmue II]]'' (still universally acclaimed as an awesome game) [[Flop|flopped]] even HARDER than the first one, plans for future games have been abandoned. There were some small games now and then, but no ''[[Shenmue|Shemue III]]'' at sight. The author has stated in 2010 that he wanted to make [[Shenmue|''Shenmue III'']] and [[Sega]] green-lighted it, but he couldn't get financial support for it. The worst part? ''[[Shenmue|Shenmue II]]'' ends in a [[Cliff Hanger]]!
* Any game released on an episodic schedule can be prone to this if the first episodes don't stir up enough interest and the developers are fired (as is the case with ''SiN Episodes'', whose development studio was disintegrated after the released of the first episode ''Emergence'') or lose interest and move on to other, better things ([[Telltale Games]], for example, released only the first two episodes to their ''[[Bone]]'' series, which were met with lukewarm reviews, before moving on to the much more successful ''[[Sam and Max]]'' series).
* The [[Lucas Arts]] adventure game ''[[Loom (
** ''[[Full Throttle]]'' sold well enough that the company intended to create sequels. However, two different attempts to put one together fell apart in the process. As the creator [[Tim Schafer]] left [[Lucas Arts]] not long after the first sequel attempt to form [[Double Fine]] and [[Lucas Arts]] does not appear anxious to license the IP to someone that ''will'' make a sequel nor try for a third sequel attempt in-house, it's safe to call this one dead.
* [[Tim Schafer]] is cursed with these.
** ''[[
*** Notch of Minecraft fame has stepped forward to fund Psychonauts 2!
** ''[[
* ''[[Betrayal
* This trope seems to have hit [[Sega]] particularly hard:
** ''[[Shining Force III]]'' was released on [[Sega Saturn]] as three "scenarios" which can be played individually, but all 3 must be completed to get the [[Golden Ending|real ending]]. [[Averted Trope|All 3 were released]], [[No Export for You|but only the first one was released outside Japan]].
** ''[[Shenmue]]'' was intended to be a trilogy, the second installment ends on an unresolved [[Cliff Hanger]]. A [[PC]] [[MMORPG]] was partially developed, then [[Abandon Ware|shelved]].
** ''[[El Dorado Gate]]'' was intended to be released in 24 bimonthly installments. Due to the death of the [[Dreamcast]], the last 14 volumes were canned. Slightly averted in that [[Capcom]] [[Aborted Arc|planned for this ahead of time]], and gave the game a proper ending in Volume 7.
* ''[[
* ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]'' claimed that there'd be 2 more times the world needed to be saved at the end of the first game and the sequel ends on a cliffhanger. Odds of the 3rd game ever coming out are pretty damn low now that Clover Studios doesn't even exist anymore.
* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' seems to have become this, with [[
* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' was last seen with the [[Big Bad]] still at large and many plot lines still hanging. Due to [[Author Existence Failure|the death of a major voice actor and the departure of the main writers(and the death of another)]], the story will never be completed.
* Will we ever hear of ''[[
* ''[[Anachronox]]'' ended on a cliffhanger. The game was a critical hit with a cult following, but didn't sell too well. Then there's the fact that that [[Author Existence Failure|the development team was fired the day before the game was released.]] So no sequel for you.
* ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'' was abandoned by Monolith in favor of ''[[
** ''Contract J.A.C.K.'' probably [[Franchise Killer|killed the franchise anyways]].
* The four-part ''[[
* [[Freedom Force]] is a pair of light-hearted yet brilliant superhero pastiches that blended pastiche with actual overarching plots and solid gameplay. Unfortunately, they didn't sell that well so development on the third entry died. Since then the studio has become so focused on (and rich by) making the Bioshock series that the cliffhanger ending of the second game will likely never be cleared up.
* The [[Croc]] series ended after two normal games and two mobile games, due to Argonaut software folding. The mobile games have long been unavailable for download, so the only games most people will play are Croc 1 and 2. A 3rd game in the series was announced but never released. The games were serious contenders to [[Crash Bandicoot]] and [[Spyro the Dragon]] at the time, and could have gone on to better things.
* Sadly, ''[[
* ''[[Breath of Fire]]'', though Camelot Software Planning has offered to revive the franchise; however, this was three years ago.
* ''[[
* ''[[Bonk]]'' also appears to sadly be another victim of this, with Bonk 3DS and Brink of Extinction being cancelled due to the dissolution of Hudson.
* ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'', due to the dissolution of Nautilus.
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== Web Original ==
* The first incarnation and reboot [[
* In general, this is very common fate for online roleplays.
* Similar to the web comics examples, this is an incredibly common result for blogs. Due to lack of time or interest in maintaining regular blog posts, the internet is littered with thousands upon thousands of blogs that are orphaned permanently. Bloggers also often bring their blog [[Back From the Dead]] after long periods of orphandom, but frequently this results only in "I've been meaning to get back to this..." and "I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long..." posts showing up at increasing intervals.
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* ''Sapphire Spindle Paw'' is either this or [[Stillborn Serial]]. Mystic(TheSpiritWolf) Created a prologue video and then a first episode, then posted about his/her intentions to make a third video, and then left the site. Searching "Sapphire Spindle Paw", with quotes, gives around four or five results. There is no sign of an episode 2.
* [[Something Awful|Rock Tumbler's]] [[Let's Play]] of ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' was discontinued due to his drug use. His former partners have started it up again and finished it.
* [[The Spoony Experiment
* [[Atlas of Medieval America]] was a very intriguing concept that never got more than a couple months of updates. [[Alternate History]] buffs have tried to carry on.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'' due to how time consuming it took to the animate the fights. What was meant to be a twenty six episodes ended at eight after the creator called it quits.
* The [[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of ''[[Western Animation/Lord Of The Rings|Lord Of The Rings]]'' covered the first two-thirds of Tolkien's trilogy. Those who desire to see the ending, however, will be forced to pick up the books. ([[Adaptation Decay|Which is probably for the better]] . . .)
* ''[[
* ''[[The Pirates of Dark Water]]'' eventually simply stopped, after about eight of the thirteen [[MacGuffin|treasures of rule]] were collected. A lack of budget and [[Channel Hop|Channel Hops]] were the responsible issues, here.
* G3.5 of ''[[My Little Pony]]'' should have lasted at least three years but ended prematurely at only one year. It had one special and a few toys, however it was made around the same time as ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* ''[[Roughnecks
|