History Main / RestrictedExpandedUniverse

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s iconic franchise has been reported to have an IP-overseeing committee that dictates certain guidelines that outside studios working in {{Spin Off}}s of the series are obligated to follow in order to keep it consistent with the mainline platformers. In particular, the introduction of original characters is very restrictive nowadays--a turnaround from entries around TheNoughties and before, when such a practice was more prominent. This is most evident in the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' subseries, which went from having many unique variations on staple ''Mario'' NPCs to mostly standard Toads and enemies from the fourth game onward.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s iconic franchise has been reported to have an IP-overseeing committee that dictates certain guidelines that outside studios working in {{Spin Off}}s of the series are obligated to follow in order to keep it consistent with the mainline platformers. In particular, the introduction of original characters is very restrictive nowadays--a turnaround from entries around TheNoughties and before, when such a practice was more prominent.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': Being TruerToTheText (and now canon to the videogames), SEGA keeps a close watch on the comic, and all stories need to be approved by them. A full list of speculated mandates can be found [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ExecutiveMeddling/SonicTheHedgehogIDW here]], but most ensure the status quo of game-canon characters doesn't change [[labelnote: Examples]]Dr. Eggman turned good due to amnesia temporarily, but this was reversed after a few issues. Silver briefly joined an OriginalGeneration team, but was kicked out by the end of the arc and teamed-up with his game ally Blaze instead[[/labelnote]], and [[SavedByCanon none can die.]] OriginalGeneration characters, on the other hand, are far less restricted.
* ''ComicBook/SonicX'': The comics aren't allowed to incorporate characters from the games that weren't featured in [[Anime/SonicX the show]], nor were they allowed to make any real changes to the status quo.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

** The video games have long faced restrictions from two opposite directions because the licenses to adapt original literary works and Creator/PeterJackson's [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings movies]] were sold to separate studios. On one side were the games unable to use any of the designs, lines or actors from the movies even when they were very well-known and liked (''The Fellowship of the Ring'', ''VideoGame/TheHobbit2003'', ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsWarOfTheRing'', ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline''). On the other side were the games unable to include anything at all that was not explicitly referenced on-screen in the movies, severely limiting available plotlines (''The Two Towers'', ''The Return of the King'', ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheThirdAge'', ''VideoGame/TheBattleForMiddleEarth''). And of course, nobody at all has the rights to ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'', placing events and characters exclusive to those books permanently off-limits.

* ''Film/TheHobbit'': While one of Peter Jackson's goals was to tie the events of ''The Hobbit'' to the ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien's estate refused to grant him access to ''The Silmarillion'', ''Unfinished Tales'', ''The History of Middle-earth'', or the other Tolkien books containing the material required to do so while remaining faithful to what Tolkien had written. As such, Jackson was forced to extrapolate and change a few details, such as the backstory of the Nazgül, in order to make it work.

** Writers of the old [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Expanded Universe]], besides following the regular continuity, had to abide by a certain set of rules established by Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}. Among those revealed to the fans are, firstly, that the protagonist ThreeAmigos (Luke, Han, and Leia) cannot be killed. Secondly, members of certain alien species cannot become Jedi. Even though several Wookiee Jedi characters already exist, no new ones should be introduced. The ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' series does so but makes mention of Wookiee Jedi rarity. Thirdly, Yoda's species and homeworld cannot be revealed. And fourthly, before the prequels, writers were told by Lucas to avoid writing in that era. This was solved by creating the Old Republic stories set long before the prequels.

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': The Tolkien Estate forbade Amazon to contradict and adapt anything that has to do with ''Silmarillion'', ''Unfinished Tales'', and other books except for the ''Appendices of the Lord of the Rings''. In the same time, the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien allowed the time compression, and gave Amazon plenty of creative freedom for new characters and plots, but also to make vague references to the others works in the ''Tolkien Legendarium''.

* ''ComicBook/GargoylesSLG'': A case of CanonDisContinuity and ExpandedUniverse restrictions occurs in Creator/GregWeisman's comic. Continuing the [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} beloved series]] after the end of Season 2, it refutes everything that happened in the Disney-produced ''Goliath Chronicles'' spin-off (sans the first episode and one additional scene), essentially restricting the expanded canon to that comic alone.

* ''ComicBook/{{Gargoyles}}'': A case of CanonDisContinuity and ExpandedUniverse restrictions occurs in Creator/GregWeisman's comic. Continuing the [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} beloved series]] after the end of Season 2, it refutes everything that happened in the Disney-produced ''Goliath Chronicles'' spin-off, (sans the first episode and one additional scene) essentially restricting the expanded canon to that comic alone.

** ''ComicBook/StarWarsInfinities'': The graphic novels are, from the beginning, set in an alternate universe of the original movie trilogy. As such, the authors are free of killing Luke in the ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' equivalent and have him come back as a ghost in ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'' (one InUniverse century after)

* ''ComicBook/{{Gargoyles}}'': A case of CanonDisContinuity and ExpandedUniverse restrictions occurs in Creator/GregWeisman's comic. Continuing the [['WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} beloved series]] after the end of Season 2, it refutes everything that happened in the Disney-produced ''Goliath Chronicles'' spin-off, (sans the first episode and one additional scene) essentially restricting the expanded canon to that comic alone.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': A case of CanonDisContinuity and ExpandedUniverse restrictions occurs in Creator/GregWeisman's comic. Continuing the beloved series after the end of Season 2, it refutes everything that happened in the Disney-produced ''Goliath Chronicles'' spin-off, (sans the first episode and one additional scene) essentially restricting the expanded canon to that comic alone.

* ''Literature/TheWindDoneGone'': Creator/AliceRandall writes it in African-American vernacular English as an explicit refutation of the limitations imposed by Margaret Mitchell's estate on those wishing to write sequels to ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind''.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': The [[Recap/DragonBallZNamekArc "Journey to Namek"]], [[Recap/DragonBallZGarlicJrArc "Return of Garlic Jr."]], and "Otherworld Tournament" arcs are not in the manga and therefore reset the situation at the end.

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': The manga has a big problem with this since it's a case of AnimeFirst and there were long stretches of time with no new Tenchi anime being published.

* ''Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}'':
** The post-cancellation [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse novels and audios]] make changes and reveal great swathes of history. Much of which has to be ignored after the TV series gets a revival over a decade later. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean it's a {{retcon}}, what with the setting having considerable TemporalMutability. On some occasions, WordOfGod has confirmed that "everything is canon", we're just seeing different possible timelines. For example, one of the post-revival episodes is an explicit retelling of the novel ''Human Nature'', written by Creator/PaulCornell. Likewise in the case of the ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic strips as well as the [[ComicBook/DoctorWhoIDW IDW]] and [[ComicBook/DoctorWhoTitan Titan]] comics have been through it in the revival.
** On July 5, 1969 --two weeks after "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames The War Games]]" aired-- Creator/TVComic begins a series of stories where the Second Doctor is exiled to Earth. During this period, the Doctor lives in the Carlton Grange Hotel and becomes a newspaper-headlining celebrity. In "The Night Walkers" (November 8-22, 1969), the Doctor investigates a story about scarecrows that walk at night that turns out to be a trap by the Time Lords so they can enforce the second half of his sentence. The scarecrows begin the regeneration process and set the TARDIS controls to dematerialise, leading seamlessly into "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Spearhead from Space]]" six weeks later. So, {{averted}} in that case.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': The licensed novels are apparently under similar restrictions to the ''Star Trek'' novels mentioned above, and also serve as a demonstration of why such rules might not always be a good idea, as they frequently contradict each other (for instance, ''Blood Oath'' and ''Clark's Law'' both mention G'Kar's wife, but she has a different name in each.)

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The books have suffered greatly from this. Since a lot of choices are left to the player, the books have been forced to remain neutral on big issues such as [[spoiler:the fate of the original council, the Destiny Ascension, who survived on Virmire, what happened to the rachni and humanity's representative]] as well as smaller ones right down to [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard's]] gender. The only exception is the BadEnding of [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 2]], which is directly [[CanonDiscontinuity contradicted]] in first issue of the ''Homeworlds'' comic series.