Steven Universe Future doesn't need a second season
Steven Universe Future spoilers follow.
"Happily ever after never ends." That's what Steven Universe promised back when the movie came out in 2019, and for a while, it seemed like that might actually be true.
Following their climactic battle with Spinel, the Crystal Gems returned soon after in a new show which explored the next chapter for Steven after he finally saved the universe.
What started out as an intriguing epilogue to the original story gradually became something far more powerful. Across 20 episodes, Steven Universe Future evolved into a devastating mediation on trauma where Steven himself became the kind of monster he's fought so hard to help in the past.
With help from Connie, the Gems managed to save Steven, leaving fans with one final episode to say goodbye. Following each farewell of his own, an older, more mindful Steven pulled on his cheeseburger backpack one last time and ventured out into the great unknown, leaving Beach City behind in his rear-view mirror.
Worlds away from the Cookie Cat lover we first met in season one, the version of Steven we say goodbye to here is truly strong in the real way, finally standing on his own two feet.
Even though we leave Steven in a good place, it's hard to part still. Across eight years, we've watched proudly as Steven first learned how to make a shield. We've cried tears of joy when he planned Garnet's groundbreaking wedding. And we've also shed tears of a different kind when we all learned the truth about his mother.
It's not been easy saying farewell, and creator Rebecca Sugar knows that better than anyone. Speaking to TVGuide, the animator revealed she's actually been "saying goodbye for years".
"We never knew if our next pickup would be our last. That was very scary at the time... And then towards the end of the original series, I was told with a fair amount of certainty that there would not be any more show. So my mourning process really began then. That was probably in 2015 or 2016, just knowing that we were working towards the end."
To begin with, last year's movie was supposed to bring Steven Universe's story to a close. However, when Cartoon Network picked the film up, it also ordered an additional 20 episodes as well, allowing Sugar and her team to craft the ending that Steven deserved with Future:
"I'm so grateful that I got to spend this time in this world and with these characters and with this incredible team. I'm ready to let this particular story go because of that, because I already feel so lucky to have spent as much time with them as I did."
We're lucky too, but still, it's natural for fans to hold on a bit longer, and wonder what's next for Steven. Where will his travels take him later down the line? Will Connie ever take Steven up on that marriage proposal? And when will we finally see Dogcopter star in his very own movie!?
Sugar revealed recently that the answers to these questions are in her mind (via Polygon), but it's unlikely we'll ever see them answered on screen:
"I do know what happens next, at least in certain timelines, for the characters. But I would have to decide how and when I'd want to dig into that, or if it's best to give them their privacy."
As of now, there's "no official" plans to continue Steven's story, and as painful as that might be, this is for the best.
Not only was the final episode a perfect farewell, but by saying goodbye to the Gems in this way, it also keeps the story alive for us far beyond what the show could ever provide. Opening up Steven's world like this creates a momentum which will never end, making them more real to us than future seasons ever could.
As Sugar herself explains: "I always wanted this world and these characters to feel sublime, as if it's always going on before and after the episodes, and continues to exist outside the frame of what you see."
Yes, Steven Universe is over, but the show's message of love will live on in the hearts of fans everywhere as each character continues to grow and change offscreen, just like us. There's hope in that, creating a never-ending ending, of sorts.
"Happily ever after, here we are."
Steven Universe Future airs on Cartoon Network.
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