Barbie Already Covered The 1 Storyline That Would Make A Ken Spinoff Work

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• A Ken spinoff would lack a good storyline and would feel stale, as the original Barbie movie already covered Ken’s journey of self-discovery and untangling his toxic masculinity.
• Continuing Ken’s storyline in a spinoff would miss the point and meaning of the original film, defeating the purpose of Barbie‘s box office success.
• If a Barbie spinoff involved the Kens, it would be better to be led by one of the many Barbies still in Barbieland, as they have untapped potential for interesting storylines.

There has been a lot of discussion about a Barbie spinoff focused on Ken, but the original movie already covered the only storyline that would make such an idea work. Barbie is one of the most talked about movies of the year, and also the highest-grossing, earning an impressive $1.4 billion at the box office. Given its success, speculations about a Barbie sequel and even a Ken spinoff are happening, but there aren’t many ways the latter would work.

Barbie stars Margot Robbie as the titular doll, who travels outside Barbieland and realizes it’s nothing like the real world. Ryan Gosling plays an insecure Ken doll, and he received an overwhelmingly positive reception for his performance, leading to more conversations about a possible Barbie spinoff about his character. Co-writer and director Greta Gerwig has acknowledged the Barbie spinoff idea focused on Ken by commenting, “We’ll see.” Even though it seems to be a good idea on paper, there is no other successful storyline for Gosling’s Ken character than the one he already had in Barbie.

A Ken Spinoff Would Only Work With 1 Storyline (& Barbie Already Did It)

There’s no good storyline to warrant a Ken movie.

The only way a spinoff focused on Ken could uphold the original movie’s message would be to untangle his toxic masculinity, and Barbie already did this. After Ryan Gosling’s “Beach Ken” follows Robbie’s “Stereotypical Barbie” into the real world, he learns about the patriarchy and wants to apply that in Barbieland. He returns home and convinces the other Kens to make major changes in Barbieland, and he succeeds, up to a point.

Gosling’s Ken is a great companion to Robbie’s Barbie, and he provides much-needed comic relief throughout the movie. Ken’s journey toward understanding the patriarchy and his descent into villainy and why it was bad made a great storyline. However, the Barbie movie squeezed everything there was out of it. At the end of Barbie, Ken untangled his toxic masculinity and went on a journey of self-discovery outside his relationship with Barbie. Since Barbie followed this exact path for Gosling’s Ken, there’s no other way to make this storyline fresh in a sequel or spinoff.

Continuing Ken’s Barbie Story Would Make A Follow-Up Feel Stale

The spinoff couldn’t redo the storyline from the original film.

Barbie has already pursued the storyline with Ken learning about the patriarchy and then going on his path of self-discovery, so continuing this would make a spinoff feel stale. While they had important parts in the movie, as great as they were, the Kens don’t need a continuation. If there were a Ken spinoff, it would have to have an amazing storyline, and it’s hard to think of a better one than the plot of the original Barbie. If there were to be a Barbie spinoff that involved the Kens, it should be led by one of the many Barbies that are still in Barbieland.

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  Barbie

  Release Date:

  2023-07-21

  Cast:

  Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Ariana Greenblatt, Helen Mirren, Nicola Coughlan, John Cena, Will Ferrell, Ritu Arya, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Alexandra Shipp, Kate McKinnon

  Director:

  Greta Gerwig

  Genres:

  Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

  Rating:

  PG-13

  Writers:

  Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig

  Budget:

  $100 Million

  Studio(s):

  LuckyChap Entertainment, Mattel Films, Heyday Films

  Distributor(s):

  Warner Bros. Pictures

  Franchise(s):

  Barbie

  Runtime:

  114 Minutes