Just one day after announcing that the forthcoming Childish Gambino album would be his last, Donald Glover has told the Huffington Post—sorry, HuffPost—that he’s walking away from his musical alter ego entirely. The admission came during a promotional event for his hit FX dramedy, Atlanta, with Glover explaining that there’s nothing worse than a guest who overstays their welcome, or a movie franchise that tacks on one sequel too many. “There’s nothing worst than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’” Glover shrugged. “You know, I like it when something’s good and when it comes back there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do that.”
As with his show, which will eventually return for a “more cohesive” second season, Glover wanted to push boundaries as Childish Gambino, but the popularity of his music threatens to nullify what he calls its “punk-ness.”
Like I feel like there’s gotta be a reason to do things and I always had a reason to be punk. Being punk just always felt really good to me and we always looked at Atlanta as a punk show and I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore. As much as “Redbone” is a punk song because it’s a gospel song that’s on the radio, I’m like there’s only so far you can go before you just are the radio.
Glover does have any number of projects in which to indulge his creativity, including one that’s a spin-off and the other which is basically a reboot, which we assume aren’t as bad as third sequels.