The Buffyverse canon consists of materials that are thought to be genuine (or "official") and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe established by the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Buffyverse is expanded through other additional materials such as comics, novels, pilots, promos and video games which do not necessarily take place in exactly the same fictional continuity as the Buffy episodes and Angel episodes. Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate and other prolific sci-fi and fantasy franchises have similarly gathered complex fictional continuities through hundreds of stories told in different formats.[1]
Using the religious analogy of a canon of scripture (see Biblical canon), things that are not canon are considered "apocryphal." When a body of work is not specifically accepted or rejected by an authority, "canon" can be a fluid term that is interpreted differently by different people. This is the case with "Buffyverse canon", which has yet to be publicly defined by an authority to the satisfaction and consensus of all observers (see: links to canon debates). The creator of the Buffyverse, Joss Whedon, has implied that additional materials he was not heavily involved in creating were separate from canon.[2] When asked in an interview about canon, Whedon stated:
This is an overview of what has been dubbed official Buffyverse canon by the series creator Joss Whedon:
Outside of the TV series, the Buffyverse has been expanded and elaborated on by various authors and artists in the so-called "Buffyverse Expanded Universe". The Buffyverse novels and Buffyverse comics are licensed by 20th Century Fox, but are generally considered 'less real' within the Buffyverse (apocryphal).[3]
Despite this, they have been licensed as official Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel merchandise. Furthermore, many authors have said that Whedon or his office have had to approve their overall outline for their novel or comic if not the final product. This was to prevent the stories venturing too far from the original intentions of Buffy/Angel stories (see below). These works are commonly considered non-canon. Jeff Mariotte, author of Buffyverse novels and comics has said:
Work created with Joss Whedon's involvement has been described as canon by commentators,[4] and by Whedon himself. For example, he announced in 2005:
In a separate interview, Whedon spoke of the planning process for the series:
Whedon has also written the comic mini-series Long Night's Journey, as well as short stories for Tales of the Slayers and Tales of the Vampires.
Fray is an eight-part comic series written by Whedon, about a Vampire Slayer of the future named Melaka Fray. In the Buffyverse, a powerful scythe used by Buffy is found in centuries to come by Melaka Fray. In 2001, whilst Whedon was still producing Buffy, he spoke about his concern of implications of information established by Fray (and Buffy comics generally) affecting the canon Buffyverse:
However, the Buffy series finale did not match continuity set by Fray. In Fray no mention is made of the Slayer's essence being split amongst multiple women.[5] When asked about the apparent contradictions between Buffy and Fray, Whedon responded:
In an interview with TV Guide, Whedon revealed that he considered TV tie-in comics to be "ancillary" unless written by the script-writers: