10 Controversial TV Show Retcons That Pissed Off Fans

Big spoilers, obviously.

It's always going to be difficult to pull off a reveal like this one, especially when one of your central characters has been the culprit from the very first episode of a six season show. Inconsistencies are bound to be brought up by eagle eyed viewers, and a little leeway is somewhat expected in cases like this.

But Dan being revealed as Gossip Girl pissed off fans. A lot. And the sheer ridiculousness of some of these inconsistencies can be described as nothing short of the most annoying retcons imaginable.

"Gossip Girl" is an anonymous stalker that reveals secrets about the lives of an affluent group of socialite friends on a blog. And the Dan reveal is so packed with retcons that it's difficult to know where to start. One instance is that "Gossip Girl" spreads rumours of Dan's fifteen year old sister's sex life. Another is that we see Dan reacting to blog posts as they appear on his screen with pure shock... while sitting completely alone in a room. He is seen anonymously sending tips to "Gossip Girl". "Gossip Girl" also reveals that Dan and Serena - his ex-girlfriend - share a half-sibling; a fact that Dan was very adamant about wanting to keep quiet.

Once season 6 rolled around and the "big reveal" took place, it became clear to fans very quickly that Dan's identity as "Gossip Girl" was simply not planned from the start, resulting in several blatant retcons of previous pieces of information that were just left blissfully unexplained. These are some of the worst retcons in TV, as the new information that counteracts what fans had previously understood is thrown at them with little-to-no attempt to explain away the inconsistencies. It's an unintentional retcon as a result of bad writing, but a huge retcon nonetheless.