Adventure Time movie on the way as Warner milks the brand for all it's worth

Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time has ended at least three times by our count, and somehow managed to stick the landing each time it did it: First, with the show’s emotionally affecting final episode in 2018, and then again in its Max follow-ups, the Distant Lands series of specials, and the Fionna And Cake spin-off series. The show’s legacy and tone—a blend of heart, action, and a vein of pitch-black comedy and philosophizing that keeps the whole thing from ever turning saccharine sweet—has survived these multiple revivals because the people who make Adventure Time are very good at it; they know they can’t just do basic retreads of old ideas without robbing the show of some of its magic, and nobody involved in creating the series wants that.

None of which is going to stop Max and Warner Bros. Discovery from seeing how long they can let that bet ride, though. Per Variety, The House That David Zaslav Merged has now revealed it’s developing not just an Adventure Time movie, but also two different kids-themed version of the show: The already announced Side Quests, about a child version of series hero Finn getting into adventures appropriate for a younger set, and a new preschool-kid-aimed show, Heyo BMO, which will center on the adorable, mildly sociopath video game console. All of these projects, we suspect, will be good: The movie, for instance, is bringing superstar creators like Rebecca Sugar, Adam Muto, and Over The Garden Wall’s Patrick McHale back to develop it, while the kids’ shows are filled with talent from the series’ deep bench of writers.

But the new slate is also of a piece with Zaslav’s recent statements that Warner’s animation slate—which has suffered roughly since Zaslav took charge of the Cartoon Network owner—will now lean much more heavily on established IP and brands that are already bestsellers. Which is a shame, in so far as it’s the kind of environment in which Adventure Time itself—which started as a seven-minute short created by Pendleton Ward, and which was rejected multiple times by Nickelodeon before Cartoon Network decided to take a chance on it—probably wouldn’t ever have a chance to thrive.

No word yet on when any of these new Adventure Time projects will see the light of day; probably worth noting that, corporate anxieties aside, we will watch the hell out of this movie whenever it finally arrives.