Canon

What is Canon?

This used to be a pretty simple question to answer. Whatever showed up on the screen was what happened and what was canon for a TV Show. (Canon: What is deemed law/true about a show and its characters) With the advent of the internet, behind-the-scenes, DVDs, and interviews, things beca

me a bit more complicated.

Shows sometimes run a bit too long to fit into their time slot, and if it’s not a massive hit, the network isn’t going to allow the show the run over. Thus the introduction of TV deleted scenes, now frequently able to be watched via TV DVDs and the internet, leads to the first crimp in the distinction between canon and not. These scenes were written, cut, filmed, and approved by everyone involved with the show. They were only cut because of time. The showrunners wanted to put the scenes in, and without network restrictions, would have. They released the deleted scenes willingly as content. Sometimes it is possible on DVDs to watch an episode with its deleted scenes intact. Should they therefore count as real and true within the universe of the show? Do we assume they happened?

Regardless, though, these scenes weren’t aired. I can think of at least one instance off the top of my head where a deleted scene was directly contradicted by a later aired episode. Looking at both the deleted scene and the later aired episode as canon would give me a bit of a headache.

Then there’s what people say. This tends to fall under two categories: actors and writers/showrunners. Actors will often state things about their characters or what they were thinking when they were performing in a scene. It’s the actor’s job to provide the subtext for a scene, but if they put a voice to their subtext interpretation, does that make it true? Writers/showrunners can give explanations as to why things happened in plot, what they considered was going on, and why they wrote a character doing a particular thing or saying a particular line. Some people will consider this extra information canon, because it was the author’s intent. Others will say that it’s not true if they haven’t put it directly on the screen.

Finally, there’s what some people like to call “fanon”—canon as interpreted by the fans. This often comes about as a result of “fanwanking,” which is when viewers go “Okay, that didn’t make any sense. For what reason could that have possibly happened?” and come up with an answer. Large overarching beliefs about a series tend to be encompassed in fanon, until such point as they become contradicted by what is shown on screen.

(There are also shows with tie-in books, comics, and webisodes, which bring in another level of canon interpretation. Spin-offs also make things a bit tricky, as they generally occur within universe.)

Essentially, canon is a difficult concept to pin down nowadays. Everyone pretty much agrees that what you see and hear on-screen is the ultimate law. Some will posit that whatever those involved with the show say is also true. After all, the writers and the actors know what they’re trying to accomplish. But others will insist that it needs to be shown onscreen to be considered a part of the show’s canon. The interpretation of the creator/showrunner/writer/actor is just another kind of fanon; also legitimate, but still, in the end, an interpretation.