Canon (fiction)

The definition of canon is of particular importance with regard to reboots or re-imaginings of established franchises, such as the Star Trek remake (2009), because of the ways in which it influences the viewer experience.

[5] Events, characters, and storylines from tie-in novels, comic books, and video games are explicitly excluded from the Star Trek canon, but the site notes that elements from these sources have been subsequently introduced into the television series, and says that "canon is not something set in stone".

[5] During George Lucas's time with the franchise, the Star Wars canon was divided into discrete tiers that incorporated the Expanded Universe (EU), with continuity tracked by Lucasfilm creative executive Leland Chee.

[8][9][10] The television series The Simpsons has as an example of non-canonical material, the Treehouse of Horror episodes, a series of Halloween-themed specials with several stories that take place outside the show's normal continuity[11] Several anime television series adapted from manga stories count with some extra episodes with original stories that are not part of the original manga, often being referred to as "filler episodes," being outside of the canon of their source material.

[19] In literature, the estate of H. G. Wells authorised sequels by Stephen Baxter, The Massacre of Mankind (2017) and The Time Ships (1995).

[23] The Monogram Murders (2014) by Sophie Hannah is a sequel to Hercule Poirot novels authorised by the Agatha Christie estate.