Norfolk author Richard Morgan, the man behind Netflix's new sci-fi hit Altered Carbon, has ruled out the possibility of a prequel.

Eastern Daily Press: Author Richard Morgan.Picture: ANTONY KELLYAuthor Richard Morgan.Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2018)

With spin-off series such as Little Sheldon taking shape following the huge success of The Big Bang Theory and Fear The Walking Dead riding the coattails of its AMC big brother The Walking Dead, Morgan has already ruled prologues a 'bad idea'.

He told the Eastern Daily Press: 'I always think prequels are a bad idea...I think once you start 'prequelling' you hollow out the initial inspiration and you end up in a place where you've striplined everything about that character and it ceases to have the mystery.

'Prequels, it feels to me like over exploitation. Good storytelling is as much about what you don't tell as what you do tell, and you've got to leave space. For characters to be compelling they need a past that you don't necessarily know about.'

MORE: Altered Carbon author wants TV adaptation to run for five seasonsHowever, he also hinted that the Netflix series had sparked some ideas for possible future sequels.

He added: 'Don't go back, if you must, go forward, you can always tell more stories going forward and I might end up writing another Kovacs novel, especially now, seeing all this cool stuff happening on screen is certainly helping to fire the boiler.'

Altered Carbon is published by Gollancz and the TV series is on Netflix now.