Final Space creator Olan Rogers announces cancelation in emotional video

Final Space has aired its final installment, according to series creator and star Olan Rogers. The animated sci-fi comedy—which originally aired on TBS and Adult Swim in the United States, and Netflix elsewhere—ran its third season Stateside earlier this summer, hitting what Rogers has described as the halfway point of the story he’d had planned for the series. That season (which airs on Netflix this week) will now be the show’s last, though, he announced in an emotional YouTube video directed at the show’s fans.

In the 7-minute video, Rogers notes that there’s been some talk of a potential hour-long special that might wrap up some of the dangling threads of the show’s narrative, which centered on a hapless space-based goofball named Gary who finds himself wrapped up in a series of intergalactic conflicts after pairing up with a floating green sidekick capable of destroying planets. (Both characters were voiced by Rogers, although it’s worth noting that Final Space had a hell of a voice cast in general, including performances from Conan O’Brien, Tika Sumpter, David Tennant, Claudia Black, Fred Armisen, Steven Yeun, Tom Kenny, and more.) But he also noted that he’s been told not to hold his breath on landing that grand finale for the show’s surprisingly far-flung story.

In the video, Rogers thanks everyone involved in the show’s creation and continuation, noting that it was improbable enough that the show survived one corporate merger (referencing the acquisition of TimeWarner by AT&T back in 2018), and that it simply wasn’t able to weather a second amidst the pressures of a pandemic. “There are better shows that get canceled for way less,” he self-effacingly acknowledges, expressing his gratitude for having gotten to make the series. “I would love to put an ending to this,” he later adds, tears in his eyes, before again thanking all the show’s fans for watching.