"biblical canon" is "a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine"
Entertainment series with many entries inevitably have internal conflicts. So series writers choose which stories are considered to be 'true' going forward.
For instance there were 30 years of Star Wars novels that established many new characters and events that came after the movies. Disney declared them all non-canon. So in the new movies none of those characters exist and none of those events happened.
It's a dangerous gambit too, because when Disney did that they did it to make it simple for the kids, but lost me as an adult long time star wars fan, because those shitty books and stories I read and spent time on are just make believe make believe...
I don't think they did it to make it simple for the kids, but rather the Expanded Universe was massive and relatively uncontrolled. Even George Lucas himself said he considers the EU to be a different world than his own movies, and that he doesn't read the novels.
Yeah the EU is almost a free for all. Plus if they were going to follow the EU, some nerds would come out and spoil major plot points of every single new Star Wars movie.
Simple for the kids? How about simple for the screenwriters? I know if I were involved I wouldn't want to be expected to read hundreds of novels before I could even start on what ought to be a very simple, straightforward script.
His official title is continuity database administrator for the Lucas Licensing arm of Lucasfilm—which means Chee keeps meticulous track of not just the six live-action movies but also cartoons, TV specials, scores of videogames and reference books, and hundreds of novels and comics.
Canon, n. 5c "Material considered to be officially part of a fictional universe or considered to fit within the history established by a fictional universe"
