Saying goodbye is always the hardest thing, but it’s often inevitable. Since first airing on Cartoon Network way back in 2013, creator Rebecca Sugar’s Steven Universe has touched the hearts of millions of fans around the world, including those of us who edit cartoon blogs like The Dot and Line.
For years we’ve known this day would come, it was just a question of how. The show’s last season—in which Steven self-actualized and finally resolved his conflict with the Diamond Authority—meant we would have to part ways with a cast of beautifully written, humane, diverse, queer, and unapologetically loving characters who were infectiously sympathetic even when they weren’t at their best. After five seasons and 160 episodes, Sugar and her team delivered as close to perfect a finale as anyone could ask for, before immediately going on hiatus and not confirming whether the show had actually ended. Instead they announced Steven Universe: The Movie, which introduced new characters and new threats with brilliant animation in the form of a bona-fide, full-blown musical—a move that felt, to its fan community, like an unexpected puppy on Christmas Day, wrapped in a velvet bow, more than anything else. Next came Steven Universe Future, a slate of episodes that flashed forward into Steven’s young adulthood, with many of his old problems safely in his past and others still prone to bubbling up. Steven Universe Future is lovely not because it gives our heroes solace, but because it acknowledges the fact that solace rarely makes us whole and that kinship and community and empathy can fill some of the gaps instead, for some people.
Throughout, Steven Universe has admirably resisted an easy ending. I’ve been waiting for this show to just end already for a while now, and at this point I love that about it. Its never out-stayed its welcome, instead showing every few months like a cuddly stray cat who’s somehow picked up new tricks and quirks since you last saw her. You notice new things about your furry friend every time she returns—perhaps a small scar or an alertness toward birdsong you didn’t notice before—but that’s fine. The key to Steven Universe was always that “perfect” is an obvious lie, that no gem is without its blemishes, and that imperfections are what give us our personalities.
Its message, too, was that change is inevitable, but that nurturing is what ensures that change leads to growth. It’s a note Sugar leaves her fans on in her message to them today, announcing that official end of the series: “Please trust that like us, these characters will always be growing, changing, and supporting each other.”
Read Sugar’s final statement to the Steven Universe fan community—posted ahead of the end of the final episodes of Steven Universe Future which begin airing March 6, 2020—below.
We will always be a #gemfamily 💖💎
From Rebecca Sugar:
“I’m so honored to have spent the last eight years creating and running Steven Universe with my spectacular team. As difficult as it was to tell an honest, personal story through a mainstream animated series, it was even more difficult to create a serialized narrative where the characters experienced growth and change. But these were the aspects of the show we were most passionate about: we wanted to share the arcs of these characters, and our own growth as artists and people, and the outpouring of support we received from fans ultimately made our dreams come true.
Almost a decade later, there is no question that the passion and enthusiasm of Steven Universe fans made our show possible, and for that I am so humbled and grateful. It has been an eye-opening experience to meet the community that has come together around the show: I have been so moved, and I have felt so seen.
I have always been a firm believer in the power of cartoons, and these days it’s undeniable: the friendships forged over this show, the artists moved to draw, the families that watched together and saw each other in these characters, inspire so much awe in me, and renew my love of animation every day.
Though our epilogue series Steven Universe Future is coming to a close, please trust that like us, these characters will always be growing, changing, and supporting each other.
Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us.”
Via Facebook
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