Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel released back in 2014, following Handsome Jack and his team over the course of his transformation from adventurer to affably evil dictator. Fans got to play as favorite characters from the last game like Claptrap and experience the events leading up to Borderlands 2 in another comical addition to the famous looter-shooter franchise. Borderlands 3, however, seems to have left the Pre-Sequel behind.
Borderlands 3 released in 2019 and has barely acknowledged any of the characters in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel or the events of the game. It is possible this is related to the Pre-Sequel being developed by a different studio, but regardless, Borderlands 3 might as well deem the pre-sequel as non-canon for a few reasons.
Borderlands The Pre-Sequel
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was not developed by Gearbox but by another studio, 2K Australia, and 2K Australia shut down in 2014 just a year after the release of The Pre-Sequel. While Borderlands 2 did have input on the story of the Pre-Sequel, very little of the story established in the game has been taken forward into Gearbox’s Borderlands 3.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was another opportunity for the series to dive in to one of best received characters in the franchise, Handsome Jack. In Borderlands 2, Jack was the delightful despot of Pandora who took credit for finding the Vault from the first Borderlands and took over the Hyperion weapons manufacturing corporation. Exploring Jack further was its biggest selling point, but one that ultimately fell flat due to the story and gameplay. Speaking of, the story promised a massive war and more, which still hasn't come to pass. Much of the game that wasn't resolved in BL2 remains ignored in BL3.
Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot
The minute references to the events of the Pre-Sequel is particularly striking in one DLC for Borderlands 3. In Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, despite finding a way to bring back Handsome Jack yet again, it still doesn't rely on much from the Pre-Sequel. This time, Jack appears in hologram form and through his haywire robotic guardians, but the add-on made no use of the backstory set up in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Jack's appearances here are more novelty than story.
Borderlands 3 has brought back many player characters from previous installments in the series as NPCs, with the notable exclusion of Salvador and Axton. This includes Aurelia in the base game, yet her background is effectively established without the game in which she was playable. Similarly, the aforementioned DLC brings back Jack's Doppelganger who was first introduced in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, but Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot could easily work with or without this background. It's not necessary to play The Pre-Sequel to understand what's happening, and that says something. Notably, many of the characters are dead come Borderlands 2, but even those that survive have little-to-no weight on the game/
The fact that Gearbox had such a clear opportunity in BL3 to make references to the Pre-Sequel and Handsome Jack’s life before he became the villain fans loved to hate in Borderlands 2 suggests a few things. First, it suggests that while The Pre-Sequel may not be non-canon, it is likely considered as good as non-canonical by fans, and this perhaps allows Gearbox to exercise full creative control over the main installments in the series.
As a result, even fans who enjoyed the story of The Pre-Sequel should likely not expect there to be references to the events and characters of 2K Australia’s addition to the franchise in the future. Though it remains possible, Borderlands 3 is full of Easter eggs and references to everything from Rick and Morty to John Wick. The barebone references to the events of The Pre-Sequel and its player characters suggest that Gearbox has no plans to move forward with them, even it the game is technically canon.
Borderlands 3 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X upgrades coming as the consoles' launch.