Is there a way to say "spin-off" in Spanish?

Question

In Spanish, the concept of "spin-off" is known as "something that is imitative or derivative of an earlier work, product, or establishment; especially: a television show starring a character popular in a secondary role of an earlier show", but the English term is used for that purpose. So, in Spanish we can say:

Better call Saul es un spin-off de Breaking Bad.

See this example from the Spanish press:

La televisión norteamericana nos ha acostumbrado a las secuelas, las denominadas "spin-off", sobre todo en el género de la telecomedia, donde es frecuente que personajes secundarios de una serie se conviertan a su vez en protagonistas de otras [...].

La Vanguardia, 15/09/1994.

In that example the word secuela is used, but according to the DLE, a secuela is a "work that continues the plot started in another work". But a spin-off do not necessarily needs to continue a previous plot, as they can also be prequels (as in the Better call Saul example), or just tell a completely new story using a character from a previous show.

So, is there a more Spanish way (other than secuela) to speak about the spin-offs, or is the English term widely accepted?

Answer 1

Reading through some articles on the web, it seems that the term "serie derivada" is sometimes used as a translation for "spin off". Here is a sample article discussing the announcement of a spin off of the show "Grey's anatomy". However, as you may see in the same article, the English term "spin off" is also commonly accepted.

Answer 2

Buscando un poco de información por mi cuenta, veo que la Fundeu apoya la opción de serie derivada, pero propone además otra opción interesante: esqueje:

Por otra parte, en televisión, una serie spin-off se refiere a la que ha sido 'creada a partir de otra ya existente, tomando de esta algún personaje, rasgo o situación', por lo que en español se aconseja escribir serie derivada. Otra alternativa es esqueje, término empleado metafóricamente por el crítico cinematográfico Pepe Nieves.

Resulta interesante el símil con esqueje ("tallo o cogollo que se introduce en tierra para reproducir la planta"): de una serie se corta una pequeña parte y se aprovecha para crear una serie nueva.

Answer 3

My suggestion is "desprendimiento", as you can see at the beginning of the second paragraph of this article.

"spin-off" is also used in business law to refer to a company that has been established as a result of the splitting (escisión) of a larger company, and this idea of a secondary series deriving from an original one seems to be in keeping with the same concept.

Answer 4

You don't need to worry about that if you want to write in press.
My main language is Spanish and I personally I think it would be a little akward read "Serie derivada". English is a so "virulent" language that have inserted new words in other languages, if you say "spin-off" I am sure that the majority of people will understand it meaning in related with series.

Even in Wikipedia there is a link to explain the spin-off meaning and it can mean 2 different things:

• Spin-off or derivative is an Anglo-Saxon term that refers to a project born as an extension of a previous one, or even more of a company born from another one by means of the separation of a subsidiary division or department of the company to become a company by itself.
• A derivative series or spin-off is a series of television, of films, of radio programs, of videogames or of narrative works created as sequel from an existing work, taking of this some main element, commonly a character that was part of the leading cast, the place where the facts occurred, or the fictitious universe of the original work.

I take that as a proof that spin-off is almost a new term of spanish. Spanish borrow the word from English instead of make a new one and now we (refering to spanish people) use them like it's was our.

Here I will write a list of spanish pages were the spin-off (series) term is used (I'll try to put different websites so you can notice is use even more):

• Los 20 mejores 'spin-off' de la televisión.
• ABC encarga un nuevo spin-off de 'Anatomía de Grey'.
• Anuncian serie spin off de "Pretty Little Liars".
• El prometedor y ambicioso spin off que tiene en mente el creador de 'La Casa de Papel'.
• FX rehace el 'spin off' de 'Sons of Anarchy'..
• 10 series de televisión que tuvieron su origen en otras series (Both terms).
• HBO trabaja en cuatro series derivadas de Juego de tronos. (Both terms)

I saw that both terms were used in some pages, so I think you could use any of both, personally it's the first time I read "serie derivada", but it's also common and it's generally used to explain what means spin-off.