retcon
/ˈrɛtkɒn
/noun
(In a film, television series, or other fictional work) a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency: we’re given a retcon for Wilf’s absence from Donna’s wedding in ‘The Runaway Bride’: he had Spanish Flu...
- Should we assume gendered pronouns conform to modern definitions of gender, or is this a social 'retcon' of the language?
- That film's jaw-dropping ending would get its own retcon in the sixth film.
- Next, let's see them come up with a creative retcon for that ludicrous "people being used as batteries" backstory.
verb [with object] (retcons, retconning, retconned)
Revise (an aspect of a fictional work) retrospectively, typically by introducing a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events: I think fans get more upset when characters act blatantly out of established type, or when things get retconned...
- With character development comes the temptation to retcon, to write events out of the history.
- The shocking ending here would later be retconned in Halloween 5.
- There's just no way they can retcon a remotely sane set of plotlines and relationships without the last season-and-a-half taking place.
Origin
1980s: abbreviation of retroactive continuity.