Inside Out 2 Created A Riley Problem For Inside Out 3

After Inside Out 2 gave Riley a much bigger role, Inside Out 3 can’t go back to making her a minor character — the inevitable threequel will have to continue making her a big part of the story. Inside Out 2 sees a now-teenage Riley contending with a bunch of new emotions, primarily Anxiety, as she enters puberty and faces the terrifying reality of starting high school without her best friends Bree and Grace. While the A-plot focuses on Riley’s emotions, the B-plot follows Riley herself as she tries to make friends with the cool kids at hockey camp.

In the first Inside Out movie, Riley wasn’t much of a character. She was only there to make choices that would facilitate more conflicts for the emotions in her head. But the sequel has rounded her out more as a character. It gave her more tangible goals and motivations, and a more three-dimensional personality with passionate interests and a belief system. It was a great development for the character that made the sequel a more emotionally enriching experience. But now that Inside Out 2 has set that precedent, Inside Out 3 can’t reduce Riley’s role.

Inside Out 2 Gave Riley A Bigger Role Than The Original & It Was Great

Riley Is Much More Of A Character In The Sequel

Inside Out 2 gave Riley a much bigger role compared to the first film. In the first Inside Out movie, there wasn’t much that made Riley stand out as a character. This was an intentional creative choice, because it put the focus more on Riley’s emotions and how they work. Plus, by making Riley more of a nondescript character, she was a blank slate that all the kids in the audience could project themselves onto. But it also made her tougher to connect with, because she was just a generic kid archetype.

By making Riley more of a nondescript character, she was a blank slate that all the kids in the audience could project themselves onto.

In the sequel, Riley gets a much bigger role and a more well-rounded personality. The story mainly focuses on Riley’s passion for hockey and her intense competitive streak, which ends up becoming her biggest flaw to overcome. But it also touches on her boy band fandom, her lingering love for video game character Lance Slashblade, and the internal conflict of whether to abandon her best friends for a chance to get in with a cooler crowd. Inside Out 2 didn’t just expand Riley’s character; it turned her into a really great character.

Inside Out 3 Can’t Give Riley A Smaller Role Now

The Precedent Has Been Set

Now that Inside Out 2 has given Riley a much bigger role and turned her into one of the franchise’s best characters, Inside Out 3 can’t go back to giving her a smaller role like the first film. After all her dedicated screen time in the second one, there will be an expectation that viewers will see more of Riley’s perspective as she keeps growing up, not less of it. Riley has already gotten a lot more complicated as she’s gotten older, and that complication will only continue as she grows through adolescence into adulthood.

After the blockbuster box office success of Inside Out 2, Inside Out 3 is inevitable. The threequel will have to tackle not only a different stage of Riley’s maturity, but a different aspect of her life to avoid feeling like a rehash of its predecessors. After the first movie focused on Riley’s relationship with her family and the second one focused on her friendships, maybe the third one can focus on her first long-term romantic relationship. This would open up the threequel to give Riley even more screen time than Inside Out 2.

Inside Out 3 Could Struggle To Keep The Balance Between Riley & Her Emotions

The Inside Out Franchise’s Emotional Focus Means It Can Never Fully Commit To Riley’s Perspective

After Inside Out 2 struck the perfect balance between Riley and her emotions, but also set the precedent that Riley would get a bigger role in each successive sequel, Inside Out 3 might struggle to maintain that balance. The issue is that the Inside Out movies can never fully commit to Riley’s perspective. If it abandoned the conceit of the talking emotions and just focused on Riley’s childhood, the Inside Out movies would just be standard coming-of-age films, like an animated version of Boyhood or an animated version of Lady Bird.

Inside Out 2
is the highest-grossing film of the year with a worldwide gross of $1.694 billion.

Whatever form Inside Out 3 takes, the emotions have to be in it and have significant roles in the story. That creates a tough balancing act for the franchise moving forward as Riley gets a larger and larger role. Inside Out 2 was the perfect sequel, but that just means there’s even more pressure to get the next one right.