"Adventure Time" Showrunner Adam Muto and Olivia Olson on the Show's Legacy

After ten seasons of Banana Guards, a Peppermint Butler, and even a purple Lumpy Space Princess, the fantastical television journey of Adventure Time has reached its final chapter. The beloved Cartoon Network series will come to a close on September 3, bringing an end to nearly eight years of adventures in the Land of Ooo.

Much like its Cartoon Network counterpart Steven Universe, Adventure Time has been celebrated for its originality and exploration of themes through animation. The series might find its home on a network geared toward a younger audience, but throughout its run, each eleven-minute episode has been packed with a surprising amount of heart, tackling subjects from mortality to consent.

The real world relevance of the series might be presented in a world filled with creatures made of candy, demons, and more than a few talking animals, but its range of diverse characters and strong female protagonists helped make the show feel urgent and applicable to every viewer. As Olivia Olson, the voice of Adventure Time's resident vampire queen Marceline Abadeer explained to Teen Vogue, the crew's decision to present every character with a backstory, even its leading ladies, was a much-needed change in the world of animation.

"I’m so honored to be part of a show that will push the limit on what a kid’s show should be and what a female character in a TV series brings to the table," she said. "When I was growing up my favorite characters on TV were never just the girlfriend in the series. I loved Angelica Pickles, Reggie Rocket, and Kim Possible. We need to see more characters like that, that are allowing these strong personalities to be celebrated rather than repressed." She further pointed out that Marceline's often emotional, but strong personality has acted as a source of encouragement for viewers, spreading a message that it's OK to be more than just "a sweet docile woman. You can be that lone wolf turned into a demon monster. Be yourself."

According to Adventure Time showrunner Adam Muto, the decision to create dynamic characters — from the show's scientific ruler Princess Bubblegum to its fearless star, Finn the Human — and make them as multi-dimensional as possible with their own special histories for viewers to discover was "necessary." He said that it was unlikely for those watching to ever truly understand Adventure Time if the show didn't explain where each member of the cartoon cast had come from. "We wanted characters to feel a bit realer," he said. "Backstories came out of things that were interesting about the character. Why wouldn't you have fully fleshed out characters? If you think about it, the whole show started as a backstory because Finn was just a boy in a bear hat."

In Olivia's acse, her role as Marceline, a vampire with a non-traditional family and emotions that sometimes mirrored depression, provided Adventure Time with the opportunity to explore complex topics under the guise of a children's show. "In a lot of other stories being a vampire demon is probably enough backstory as is," she told Teen Vogue. "I was really surprised that the writers of Adventure Time stripped down what people are on the surface and showed these other sides. Adventure Time always finds a way to touch on these very real life issues that so many kids and adults can relate to in their own world."

She continued, touching on the fact that exploring feelings and real-life issues shouldn't be considered unusual of a cartoon. "It’s important, especially in kids programming, that you don’t dumb things down for kids to be able to understand it. You bring things up and then talk about it, so it’s in their mind and they can think and go there." Adam pointed out that the show never intentionally set out to necessarily change the world, but said the bite-size episodes were intended to give viewers "something to chew on."

Even as the show shared tales of an elephant named Tree Trunks and her infamous apple pie or introduced us to the desperately lonely Ice King and his hoard of penguin friends, there was always a message of empowerment. "As a feminist, I love the fact that all of the kingdoms in Ooo are ruled by women," Olivia said. "All of these people are princesses, and then the men in the show are kind of perceived as not noble ruling characters. All of the women are the most respected, and as far as culture goes here on Earth, in the real world, that’s not always necessarily the case. It’s really important to see that women can be powerful and can run a kingdom and have people look up to them."

As Adam explained to Teen Vogue, those involved with Adventure Time had a desire that each viewer, regardless of their age or reason for watching, would find their own meaning from the series. "The show was so many things; corny and weird, personal, exhilarating, and it was all these things. But it can speak for itself," he said. "We don't talk about it too much so it's left to interpretation. Someone's favorite character is someone's most hated. Someone's favorite episode is someone else's least favorite episode. That kind of wild diversity is what I like about the show."

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