Trivia / Final Space

• Accidental Downer Ending: Season 3 ended on a particularly downer fate, with Ash taking Mooncake and using him to free Invictus, leaving him free to wreck havoc on the universe. It was not long after this that the show was canceled and written off for taxes, although the creator, Olan Rogers, does intend to finish the series through a graphic novel.
• All-Star Cast: In addition to showrunner Olan Rogers and producer/voice actor Conan O'Brien, the series has many familiar names such as Tom Kenny, David Tennant, Gina Torres, Steven Yeun, Fred Armisen, Caleb McLaughlin, Ron Perlman, and John DiMaggio.
• Approval of God: Olan Rogers praised a fan-video that was posted to Reddit.
• Ascended Fanon: When asked about the name of the woman hitting on Tribore, Olan replied that he never thought of a name for her but decided to jokingly call her "Shannon Thunder" after her voice actress and the name of the fan asking the question. That name soon became catchy as other fans started to refer to Shannon by that name and it officially became canon in "The Closer You Get".
• Breakthrough Hit: Of the only two shows planned for TBS's ill-fated animation line-up which actually made it to air (see below), the other being the Short-Runner Tarantula!, this was the only one which saw any success.
• Conclusion in Another Medium: The final season never came to be, as Warner Bros/TBS decided not to renew the show for a fourth season. But on April 24th 2023, the creator of Final Space posted a video announcing that he has been given the right to finish the story via a graphic novel, but only ONE, and that will be it.
• Channel Hop: Originally a TBS original, before shifting to [adult swim] for its second season, although it is still credited and copyrighted under TBS.
• Creator Backlash:
  • On Reddit, Olan Rogers referred to "The Lost Spy" as his least favorite episode of Season 2, remarking that the network was responsible for adding in more jokes in addition to the Clarence subplot.
    Olan: You'll find out early in doing TV pick your battles. This one battle I tried to fight and we lost. Which is way [sic] it's not one of my favorites.
  • Olan has also expressed regret for the "piss battle" joke in "The Happy Place", adding that it was a joke the writers disliked but the executives loved.
  • Olan also admitted that he did not like how the show ended overall as he said that the finale to season 3 was never intended to be the ending to this show and that he had an entirely different ending in mind, thinking about it every day.
• Creator Breakdown: Olan’s frustration with the cancellation of his show was vented out in multiple ways, including when he produced “Godspeed”. He also admitted that the episode “Forgiveness was when he and Coty Galloway completely broke down while making the episode as a result of the meddling they went through by executives as well as the Covid pandemic and the tornado that destroyed Olan’s soda parlor in Nashville.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Olan Rogers cites "The Other Side" as his favorite episode in Season 2. His favorites from Season 1 are Chapters 6, 8, and 10.
• Executive Meddling:
  • After the show made a Channel Hop to [adult swim] for Season 2, the executives at TBS pushed the show to have more standalone episodes and to play up the humor, with the first three episodes of the season and "The Lost Spy" receiving a lot of notes. By contrast, when handling Season 1, TBS was noted by Rogers to be more hands-off, while Season 2 was "slammed with notes from every branch of the network". Showrunner David Sacks noted to Olan Rogers that notes-wise, Season 2 of Final Space was the worst he'd been through in his career.
  • TBS also wanted, at the start of Season 2, for the series to immediately go into the next adventure, with a lighter tone than the Season 1 finale.
• In Memoriam: "The First Times They Met" is dedicated to Caitlin Alexander Burcham.
  "A blazing pink star forever burning in our hearts."
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: As of July 2022, Final Space has been removed from HBO Max, Adult Swim's website, and most digital storefronts. And then, in September 2022, the series was officially a declared a tax write-off for Warner Bros. Discovery, meaning the series will no longer air on television, be available on streaming, and no new home media releases will be created. Season 3 also never got released for any physical media. As a result, Olan Rogers has openly supported pirating the show:
  "A lot of people worked on that and I think more than anything they don’t want it to be forgotten."
  • The series was removed from Netflix in Spain, France, Germany and Belgium on March 19, 2024, making the series officially out of print.
  • Olan also announced that he would include a “recap” section in the graphic novel that will focus on the plot of the show’s three seasons so that those who didn’t watch the show would get an understanding of it upon purchase of the novel.
• Lying Creator: Olan Rogers stated in a Final Thoughts video that Avocato was Killed Off for Real at the ending of Chapter 6 and would not be returning to the show in any way. However, the episode “The Remembered” reveals that the Crimson Light went back in time and saved Avocato just when he was blown into space and treated his injuries, leaving him with severe memory loss.
• The Other Darrin: Helper Hula was voiced by Gina Torres in season 1 and Vanessa Marshall in season 2.
• Playing Against Type: Ron Perlman, known for portraying dark and villainous characters like Slade and the Lich, voices John Goodspeed, a heroic character who is not only the father of Gary but is also far goofier than his other roles.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The legal system played a huge role in the abrupt cancellation of Final Space due to not only their approval of the merger between Warner Bros and Discovery but also making the show a tax write off, resulting in the show's revival becoming much harder for fans to campaign for without getting the IRS and a bunch of lawyers involved.
• Screwed by the Network:
  • Season 2, which is often regarded by fans the least favorably, was apparently originally supposed to be more drama-oriented, expanding on Nightfall's backstory and internal anguish, and showing more emotional fallout over the traumatic events of the Season 1 finale, but the network wanted the show's second season to be more Rick and Morty-esque, and so they forced the season we got, which received criticism for several toilet humor-oriented moments.
  • Unfortunately, because of a merger by Discovery Inc. and Warner Media (according to Olan Rogers' Twitter), the show was not renewed for a fourth season, leaving the story on a cliffhanger as Invictus breaks out of Final Space, leaving the universe's fate unknown. With the series becoming a tax write-off by Warner Bros. Discovery in September 2022, not only will the series never be concluded, it will also never receive any future airings on TV or home media rereleases (with Season 3 never getting released on DVD).
• Sending Stuff to Save the Show: An ongoing example. After hearing about the cancellation and its circumstances, several fans became very angry at the executives of Warner Bros and Discovery for the decision and made several attempts to convince them to change their minds, ranging from change.org petitions to funding Olan’s Godspeed project on Kickstarter, and using #RenewFinalSpace on social media outlets like Twitter and Reddit. Even Olan Rogers joined in on these campaigns by making t-shirts and caps that demand for the show’s renewal and making them available to purchase on his Star Cadet online shop. This merchandising became a lot more aggressive after Olan revealed that his license to sell Final Space merchandise was going to expire for the site and resorted to using parodies, including releasing shirts and stickers showing an Alternate Self version of both Gary and Avocato in a scenario where they are members of a rock band.
• Stillborn Franchise: The show was originally going to be part of a new block of adult animation for TBS, alongside Close Enough, Tarantula! and Louis C.K.'s never-produced The Cops. Production on CK's show was abruptly halted once reports of his sexual misconduct became public and Close Enough got lost in the shuffle, eventually being aired on HBO Max. The only other show to make it to air on TBS was Tarantula, and only for one season, while this show was Only Barely Renewed.
• Troubled Production: The show and its graphic novel underwent some hiccups in their production.
  • For Season 3 of the show, the showrunners and the crew had to make most of the show at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Zigzagged with The Final Chapter. Initially it was difficult for Olan to secure the rights to make the graphic novel due to the fact that the show was made a tax write-off. He was also hit with strict restrictions from WB on what he can and can’t do with the novel. He managed to hire several professionals to help him with the novel, with him making updates that the drawing and inking of the recap portion was going smoothly, all while juggling that project with his prior commitment, Godspeed. Olan also suffered some at-home injuries during production, such as an eye abrasion from cleaning a mat, and a broken tailbone from slipping on the basement stairs on Thanksgiving 2023.
• What Could Have Been:
  • When the series was titled Gary Space, it was originally pitched for Cartoon Network. Afterwards, the show would be pitched to other networks including Fox, FX, Comedy Central, Fullscreen and YouTube.
  • The original intro sequence for Season 1 was vetoed by the network, in favor of the all-CGI one we ended up getting. It would eventually be used as the opening sequence for Season 3.
  • "The Lost Spy" was originally just focused on the Gary-Little Cato plotline and the Sheryl plotline, before Executive Meddling asked for a Clarence subplot, resulting in the other two being shaved down.
  • The episode "The Happy Place" "was originally a Space Battle Area where Gary and Little Cato have to fight to the death", according to Olan Rogers.
    Olan: It was suppose to be a battle arena and Todd was going to put Gary against Little Cato. Gary would of [sic] been given Hyper 76 to make him go rampage mode. Hue would of got a new body a Battle Droid. It had a very Ender’s Game vibe to it. Todd’s revenge would of been watching Gary kill everything he loves. It got pretty dark.
  • The Season 2 premiere was originally envisioned as a two-part episode, before network demands condensed it down to one.
• Word of Gay:
  • In a discussion on the show’s page on Reddit, Olan confirmed that Clarence is bisexual.
  • On the same page, Olan subverted this trope with Tribore. Tribore showed Ambiguously Gay behavior in season but Olan describes him as a “narci-sexual” and in love with himself.
  • Furthermore, Olan revealed on Twitter that he planned on featuring two additional characters of LGBT representation in seasons 3 and 4. "Forgiveness" heavily implied that Ash is one of the LGBT characters, and Olan has dropped various hints that the other LGBT character would've been Little Cato.
• Word of God: The show's creators are very open in answering fan questions about the show.
  • Olan Rogers states in a special insider clip for Episode 2 that anything that happens to the characters on the show is permanent and cannot be reversed—for example, when Gary lost his left arm to the Lord Commander in Episode 2, he lost it forever.
  • When asked in a final thoughts livestream on how old all of the characters are, Olan responded with the following. Gary is 30, Quinn is 32, KVN is 5, and Avocato is 512. However, Olan’s statement about Gary being 30 is contradicted in “The Sixth Key”, when Gary reveals that he is 32 years old.
    • And regarding character ages, Little Cato’s age was disputed amongst the staff. Rosa Tran, the shows supervising producer claimed that Little Cato was 13 years old but Olan says in another livestream that Little Cato was 15. “The Notorious Mrs Goodspeed” however has Little Cato reveal that he was 14 years old.
    • He also claimed Mooncake to be 5001. This is impossible, since flashbacks show Mooncake was created when Gary's father John Goodspeed closed a breach to Final Space, which can't have been more than 20 to 30 years prior to the events of Season 1 considering Gary, who is 32, was a child when this happened (and old enough to remember it). Fortunately, Olan later confirmed on Reddit that he was joking about Mooncake’s age.