"The fans demanded it in a voice so loud I kind of was scared to go against them.”
Fans are more powerful than we think. Multiple writers have admitted to reading fan theories or ships and reacting on the page — either by disproving or reinforcing them. When the theory or suggestion is adapted, this is sometimes called ascended fanon, described brilliantly by TVTropes. There are loads and loads of examples on their site, but here are 11 examples where the writers themselves have confirmed it:
By the way, ⚠️enormous spoiler alert⚠️ for every single movie and TV show on this list.
1. Desperate Housewives writer and producer Marc Cherry says he changed who Mike married in the show thanks to fan reactions.
ABC
"I originally was going to have Mike marry Katherine,” he told Entertainment Weekly, “but as I went out into the world on vacation and just started talking to people they weresodetermined that Mike and Susan should get together; they were soinsistenton it. So I started to think, ‘What if I went that way.’ And it occurred to me that it might be a more effective way to go as opposed to frustrating the fans for another year by keeping Mike and Susan apart. The fans demanded it in a voice so loud I kind of was scared to go against them.”
2. Fans seemed to have influenced Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards, who plays Captain Teague, being written into Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Speaking to Box Office Mojo, writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio spoke on how fan reactions may have shaped Captain Teague's screentime. Rossio said, "For the longest time, my least favourite character was the Keith Richards character... because somehow the world collectively woke up one day and decided that Keith Richards was going to be in these films. Every question we were asked everywhere we went was about Keith Richards and we became almost required to include this character... It was very challenging because the role had to be crucial to the movie or it shouldn't be there but not so demanding that if Keith couldn't make it for whatever reason it somehow couldn't be modified."
3. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has hinted that a previously-unnamed elf only got a speaking role because of the furore he created among fans. It's not a straight-up admission, to be fair, but we literally cannot think of another way Jackson could have called him by his fan-generated name.
Warner Bros.
An unnamed elfbecame something of a sensation in theLord of the Rings fandom after his three-second film debut for... well, no real reason, except the fact that he's pretty striking. He was given the name Figwit, which stands for "Frodois great — who is that?" as people sought to find the then-anonymous character.
Since then, fans have released Figwit merch. And in theextended edition of TheReturn of the King, Peter Jackson says, "The decision to give [Figwit] a speaking role was developed after the scene was scripted. Originally just a random cast extra was to give the lines, but it was decided that it would be fun if the Figwit actor was brought in to deliver them."
Jackson was also interviewed for the 2004 documentary Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?.
4. Hints that Alex and Olivia are a couple in Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit arose because of fan theories, executive producer and head writer Neal Baer says.
NBC
Speaking to SFGate, Baer said, "We read the fan sites. We know that people are into the Alex-Olivia thing. All the codes are in there." To which I say: make them kiss then, cowards!
5. Okay, she's not a writer on the show, but Community actor Alison Brie (Annie) says she and Joel McHale (Jeff) may have shared some kisses later in the show thanks to fan feedback from their first smooch.
NBC
"I think it evolves very naturally out of a chemistry between Joel and I, and sort of these characters who were kind of friends and maybe had an innocent curiosity about one another,"she told Popeater."Even in the debate episode, when the flirtation started and they first kissed, I had no idea where the writers were taking it. After that episode aired and we saw the fan reaction was so positive, it actually surprised me that people thought the finale was so controversial because after the debate episode there had been so much fan feedback in favour of these two getting together."
6. Doctor Who is riddled with fan theories that became canon, but showrunner and writer Stephen Moffat made his own fan theory come true when he wrote a 1995 comment he'd made in a forum into an episode.
BBC
In the forum, he said, "Here’s a particularly stupid theory. If we take 'The Doctor' to be the Doctor’s name – even if it is in the form of a title no doubt meaning something deep and Gallifreyan – perhaps our earthly use of the word 'doctor' meaning healer or wise man is [a] direct result of the Doctor’s multiple interventions in our history as a healer and wise man. In other words, we got it from him. This is a very silly idea and I’m consequently rather proud of it."
In season 6, episode 7, A Good Man Goes To War, Moffat made his own fan theory canon. To be fair, we couldn't find Moffatt addressing this directly — but it's pretty clear what, and who, the source is.
7. Rick & Morty writer and producer Mike McMahan is on a mission to disprove your fan theory.
Adult Swim
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, he wrote, "The fastest way to make sure yourRick & Mortyfan theory is wrong is to tell me about it because then I’ll make sure it never happens. I can’t guarantee that I’ll have the sway to 100 per cent keep it from happening, but I’ll try. I’ll try until I’m dead.”
True to McMahan's word, the show has thwarted many of the fandom's most popular theories —including the Evil Morty conspiracies. Perhaps that's part of why the Morty revolution began.
It's no fun if somebody guesses a secret plot line, I'd rather be surprising than prove someone guessed right. Also: I'm a jerk.
— Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) August 22, 2017
8. Loki baited fan theorists with its script, executive producer Kevin Wright says.
Disney+
Speaking to ScreenRant about fan theories, Wright said, "I love reading all that, and we would read all of it in season one... Maybe some of those things [we wrote having read the theories] are pointing in the right direction, others might be there to purposely throw people off or make them think one thing so that we can hit them harder with something else."
He added, "My one fun one that I saw this season — was two things actually. One [theory] that Jack, the manager of McDonald's was young Mobius. And that Mobius is maybe a variant of Odin!? Justin and Aaron would frequently tell me to stop looking and I'm like, 'I can't help it. I love it.' And I think the show is better because of that — because we're engaging with it."
Exclusive: #Loki executive producer Kevin Wright explains how Marvel fan theories factor into the creation of the MCU: https://t.co/ME5Y7vFS3Q pic.twitter.com/7Dyv98E7LK
— Screen Rant (@screenrant) November 19, 2023
9. Reddit fan theories made Severance's creator Dan Erickson way more careful about sharing plot details in his scripts.
Apple TV+
He told The Atlantiche visited the show's subReddit "quite a bit" while writing on it, adding that he was spooked by how quickly some fans would predict a major plotline from what he believed was quite a small detail. "Now I think we probably would not include that line, or we would make it a half step more obscure," he said.
10. Yellowjackets script changed so as to blindside fan theorists, co-showrunner Jonathan Lisco says.
Showtime
In the same The Atlantic article, Lisco says that fan theories became an "inevitable" writer's room topic. If too many fans have caught onto an upcoming plotline, he says sometimes "we have to kick the tyres on it." Of course, you can't do that with every theory — "With so many smart viewers out there, eventually, people are going to hit upon things that we’re noodling in the writers’ room, and that’s a cross-pollinating delight. But it can also be, really, a mess," Lisco shared.
He added, "we can’t be overly influenced by [them] lest we lose track of the primary story that we want to tell… What we’re really trying to do is surprise the audience in its emotional jugular, not necessarily [on a] concrete plot level.”
11. George R. R. Martin, who wrote the Game of Thrones books and scripted some episodes for the HBO show until season 4, says that he learned to actively avoid fan theories that might "influence" him.
HBO
"At first I was very flattered and I’d go on message boards and think: ‘Oh, this is cool, they’re all really excited,'" the author told The Observer. "But then I began to think: ‘No, I should really steer clear.' I don’t like the fact that some people have figured things out that are correct, and I don’t like the fact that other people have figured out things that are wrong but that could influence me too. So I took myself out of all that and let fans have their theories, some of which are right and some of which are wrong. They’ll find out which when I finish.”
