Garland ‘The Marietta Mangler’ Greene (Steve Buscemi), from Con Air

One of the problems of giving Hannibal Lecter a franchise, or at least an origin film, was that it watered down the iconic villain a bit. Fortunately for the similar serial killer Garland Greene, he’s neither iconic nor all that frightening, so showing his back story won’t ruin him for all those Con Air fans out there. And who wouldn’t like to see Steve Buscemi on a cross-country drive wearing a girl’s head as a hat? Considering Greene has a potentially life-changing moment halfway through the movie and also manages to get away at the end means there’s room for a subsequent spin off, as well. It might not be as bloody as the prequel, but it’ll still be interesting to see this mass murderer make it rich at the craps table and then attempt to fall into a more normal (albeit wealthier) lifestyle.

Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), from Tropic Thunder

One of the more politically incorrect things heard following the Oscars is, “Robert Downey Jr. should do Indian face now.” As wrong as that statement seems, though, it’s not really that different from what was already done. RDJr achieved something remarkable considering how PC America has been in the last twenty years. Could he break apart more taboos with his Oscar-nominated role as the Oscar-winning actor Kirk Lazarus? A franchise wouldn’t necessarily have to be racially based. For his next role, we see Lazarus taking the plot of Tootsie to the next level by actually getting a sex change in order to play a woman. It might end up even more successful than Madea.

Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), from X-Men, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand

After the X-Men movie franchise gives us origin spin offs for Wolverine and Magneto, it’ll be time to give one of the many female mutants her own film. Unfortunately, nobody really wants to see cinematic one-shots focused on Storm, Rogue or Jean Grey. Maybe there’d be interest in a Kitty Pryde movie starring Ellen Page, though her character really necessitates the surroundings of a team (Excalibur movie, anyone?). The main worry of an X-Woman-based prequel might be that previous female superhero spin offs have consistently been terrible (see Supergirl, Elektra and Catwoman). But X-Men Origins: Mystique would be very cool, because Raven Darkholme is such a fascinating villain. Her solo film should be set during WWII in her days as a spy and feature her lesbian partner, Destiny (or hetero partner if you subscribe to the theory that Mystique was born a man and has been disguising herself primarily as a woman “as the ultimate in transvestism”). Brian De Palma should probably direct this spin off, since it’ll kind of be like a cross between Mission: Impossible and Femme Fatale.

Pagoda (Kumar Pallana), from The Royal Tenenbaums

Like the Coen brothers, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino and a number of other indie film gods of the 90s, Wes Anderson has a good lot of supporting characters to choose from for a spin off. But none of those characters would be as interesting as any of Kumar Pallana’s roles. And we’re not just thinking of him because a Pagoda spin off would cash in on the Slumdog-inspired India fetishism that’s likely to take over Hollywood for the next year or so. No, we always wished to see the origins of Royal Tenenbaum’s servant, friend, informant and attempted assassin. The only problem with wanting a film about the young Pagoda in his days as a killer in Calcutta is that Pallana is probably too old to play the part, yet nobody (not even his son, fellow Anderson player Dipak Pallana) could be his substitute.

Gayle Sweeny (Jane Lynch), from Role Models

We know what you’re thinking: a whole movie consisting of Jane Lynch talking about performing sexual favors for coke while doing her hilariously dirty hot dog trick? To which we answer: hell yes, please. But seriously, this is simply an excuse to propose Lynch get her own comedic vehicle in general. She could reprise her role as the head of the mentoring organization Sturdy Wings, or she could bring back her similarly inappropriate character from The 40-Year-Old Virgin. We’d also settle for any of her roles from the Christopher Guest films, just so long as she gets to star in a film of her own. Come on, Judd Apatow, enough of the boys club. The funniest member of your company of actors is a woman, and she deserves the spotlight, too!