Adventure Time: Cartoon Network series ending in 2018

Horrible news: Cartoon Network just announced the impending series finale of Adventure Time, the sci-fi/fantasy post-apocalyptic musical fairy-tale rom-com coming-of-age sitcom epic starring Jake the Dog and Finn the Human.

Great news: Adventure Time won’t end until 2018.

In an official statement, Cartoon Network promised the final run of Adventure Time episodes will encompass “142 half-hours of content,” which includes new episodes, miniseries, specials, and some mysterious “more.” (By comparison, the complete run of Game of Thrones so far only represents about 120 half-hours of content.)

Created by Pendleton Ward, Adventure Time premiered in 2010 and became a hit for the network, drawing large audiences and earning a raft of awards. The show garnered critical praise – not just from me, but definitely from me – and occupied a unique nexus between hip alt-comedy and Comic-Con friendly geekdom, with guest stars including Marc Maron and Ron Perlman. Adventure Time cosplay became dominant at conventions, where Fiona and Jake Cake (the gender-swapped alternate versions of the main characters) became icons in their own right. With success, the show’s universe has expanded, and its ambitions have grown. Like Harry Potter before it, Adventure Time has grown up with its main character; voice-of-Finn Jeremy Shada was barely a teenager when the show started.

“Adventure Time was a passion project for the people on the crew who poured their heart into the art and stories,” said Ward in a statement. “We tried to put into every episode something genuine and telling from our lives, and make a show that was personal to us, and that had jokes too! I’m really happy that it connected with an audience for so long. It’s a special thing, I think.”

The show is currently in production on its ninth and final season, which will hopefully answer all of the lingering questions of the Adventure Time mythology, like “Will Ice King ever be happy?” and “What the heck is really going on with Peppermint Butler?” and “Wait, has Abraham Lincoln always been the King of Mars?”