Created by Rebecca Sugar (Adventure Time, Singles), Steven Universe premiered on Cartoon Network in 2013 until 2019. In an interview with Variety, Sugar spoke about Steven Universe in honor of the series’ tenth anniversary. Sugar also spoke about the potential for a revival or spin-off series.
Sugar first told Variety about what it was like to create the first season of the show and the concerns that arose. She explained, “In your first season, you’re under intense scrutiny, because everyone above you really wants to make sure that the show will work.”
For her, one of the more difficult parts to navigate was the target audience. She continued, “And ‘Steven Universe’ was interesting because technically our demographic was specifically six to 11-year-old boys. Part of our goal with the show was to break those boundaries, and free ourselves of those limitations, and make something that would appeal to a much broader audience while still satisfying our jobs, our core demographic.”
“I felt, too, that six to 11-year-old boys deserved a lot more credit,” she stated, “because it was very narrow what was considered acceptable to them: what they were willing to watch and what they were gonna like. One big push I had very early on was I said, I think that this show could be beautiful.”
Sugar also created the music for Steven Universe as songs were a large part of the series. She would write songs for specific characters, such as Garnet, voiced by singer Estelle Swaray (Empire, Steven Universe: The Movie).
When asked by Variety if Swaray helped during the songwriting process, Sugar noted, “She was a huge help. When I was first going to write her a song, it was very intimidating, and I wanted to do a really good job. I asked her if it would be all right for me to write her something for the show, and she said yes.”
Sugar continued, “So I described to her ‘Stronger Than You’ which I hadn’t yet written, and she gave me so much insight. I said, ‘I’m working on this song for Garnet’s character, and it’s going to be a love song, a fight song and a victory song all at the same time.’ I asked if she had any references or thoughts about how something like that could sound, and she sent me a bunch of thoughts, which totally informed ‘Stronger Than You.’ And from then on, anytime I would write her something, I would chat with her beforehand and find out how she felt about that idea.”
In 2019, a limited series titled Steven Universe Future debuted and acted as an epilogue for the Steven Universe series. Sugar told Variety that, if given the chance, she would be open to continuing the Steven Universe franchise through a spin-off series or a revival.
Specifically, she expressed, “I would really, really appreciate it if everyone who would be interested in something like that would make a ton of noise and make it really known — because I would be thrilled to explore that. I think in this current media landscape, if there’s a huge amount of public demand, then that is something that becomes impossible to ignore.”
She continued, “I love these characters and I love this world, and I would love to return to it. And I hope, if everyone else feels the same as I do, I may have an opportunity to do something like that.”
When asked what could be explored in a revival, Sugar explained, “It’s not an easy answer, because there’s so much, and I’m also so grateful to the ‘Steven Universe’ team, the crew that I worked with for eight years on the show. Thanks to them, these characters are so incredibly rich, and this world is so beautifully defined. Even just our rules and our lore and the meaning behind why the characters are the way they are is so full that, if I had an opportunity to work with them again, they really take on a life of their own.”