23 Theories About Popular Franchises That Left Our Jaws on the Floor

Places like Reddit are a playground for fan theories where users come up with ideas of their own about the things they watch that are usually beyond the writer’s intent. Sometimes these interpretations even find their way to the show’s creators with some impressed and others just utterly baffled.

Notice how you never see children on Sesame Street? Some super sleuths seem to think that the kids might be the meal of choice for the fuzzy puppets of the block. While other grade-A mind-bending fan theories beg questions like what if Bikini Bottom is a nuclear testing site? What if Aladdin takes place in the distant future? And what if the Smurfs are hallucinogenic? If you’ve got a favorite show, there’s someone out there who has come up with a theory about it. 

Here are 23 popular franchises that have been subject to some wild theories and will change the way you see some of your plot lines forever…