[1][2] Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their preceding material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property.
Such works may arise when licensing issues prevent a creator from releasing a direct sequel using the same copyrighted characters and names as the original.
These copyright issues have continued into contemporary times: in the case Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. (2014), it was determined that the characters of Holmes and Watson were in the public domain.
[10] The 2022 miniseries We Own This City was described as a spiritual successor to the 2002–08 series The Wire in that both are street-level crime dramas set in Baltimore and both are produced by David Simon for HBO.
Examples of these include: The term is also more broadly applied to video games developed by a different studio with no connection to the original, and simply inspired by the gameplay, aesthetics or other elements of the preceding work.