Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cakeis an Americanadult animatedtelevision series developed byAdam Mutoand serves as a spin-off to theCartoon NetworkseriesAdventure Time.The third-released series inthe franchise, it premiered via the streaming serviceMaxon August 31, 2023. In December of the same year, Max announced that the show had been renewed for a second season.
The series focuses on the eponymousFionnaandCake the Cat, alternate-universe versions ofAdventure Time'smain characters:Finn the HumanandJake the Dog. Also featured is Simon Petrikov, who originally appeared inAdventure Timeas theIce King.Fred SeibertandSam Registerexecutive produce, along with Muto, who had served asshowrunnerfor the latter half ofAdventure Timeand oversaw production of theDistant Landsspecials.
WhereAdventure Timefollows the adventures of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog,Fionna and Cakefollows Finn and Jake's gender-swapped counterparts, Fionna the Human and Cake the Cat. The series also features Simon Petrikov, a character whom for most ofAdventure Timehad been known as theIce King.
Fionna lives with her cat, Cake, in a universe without magic, spending her days cycling through dead-end jobs. At night, she dreams of a magical yet elusive world where she can find fulfillment. Simon, in the alternate universe home to the Land of Ooo, works from home as a living exhibit of a bygone era and faces similar anxieties to Fionna's. The trio travel throughout the multiverse, stalked by an antagonist who seeks to erase them from existence.
The idea for "Fionna the Human" and "Cake the Cat" evolved from drawings thatAdventure Timecharacter designer and storyboard revisionistNatasha Allegrihad posted online during the show's earliest seasons.Reception to the gender-swapped characters was so positive that theAdventure Timeproducers decided to write the characters into the series.They debuted inSeason 3's "Fionna and Cake", on which Allegri worked, and it functioned as both "a jab [and] a huge celebration of, [sic] the feeling of being a fan" and "allowing something completely ridiculous to make your heart tighten".The characters would make additional appearances inSeason 5's "Bad Little Boy",Season 6's "The Prince Who Wanted Everything",Season 8's "Five Short Tables", andSeason 9's "Fionna and Cake and Fionna". In these episodes, Ice King shares stories about Fionna and Cake he made, who are in fact characters from modern shows; when he sleeps, a beam projects to his head to transport ideas of the fan-fiction.
After the 2018 finale "Come Along with Me", a first spin-off series ofAdventure Time: Distant Landsdebuted in 2020;before the latter's finale, HBO Max announced that a gender-swapped spin-off series was in production, on August 17, 2021, and ten half-hour episodes were planned.In a 2022 interview,Jeremy Shada, the voice actor ofFinn the Human, noted that he "may or may not be in that" when it came to the new spin-off.In theAnnecy International Animation Film Festivalin 2022-23,Cartoon Networkand HBO Max released sneak peek material,while HBO Max was rebranded under the nameMaxas of May 2023.
TheAdventure Time: Fionna and Cakeseries was developed specifically with the young adult demographic in mind, according to Suzanna Makkos, an executive for bothMaxandAdult Swim: "TheAdventure Timefans have grown up and people are still coming in the bottom, and they're aging up", she noted in an interview withComic Book Resources. "[Fionna and Cake] felt like a perfect show for us. Tonally, it is very muchAdventure Time, but Fionna's older. She's in the workforce. It's more adult, so I think it's going to bring in new fans, and it's also going to serve the fans that we already have."In the United States, the limited series received aTV-14 certificationbased on the adult content (nudity,gore,profanity, andsubstance abuse); on the other hand, the series remains the TV-PG rating, just likeAdventure Time, in Australia.LongtimeAdventure TimeandDistant Landsexecutive producer Adam Muto returned to produce the limited series and also served as theshowrunner,withFred SeibertandSam Registerin partnership with Cartoon Network.In interviews withThe DirectandThe Washington Post, Muto and Ryann Shannon explained that the crew decided to focus on Fionna and Cake due to their popularity with theAdventure Timefandom.Initially, Muto was concerned about working on another spin-off, given that sequels and reboots are often met with mixed success. To ensure thatFionna and Cakefelt like its own production, the crew attempted to avoid "stepping on what [they had already] done before". The writers thus decided to ensure that the spin-off would be satisfying on its own and that it would focus on the characters' unique growth.WhileDistant Landsis a limited series of four loosely connected vignettes,Fionna and Cakeis a more united story.
When discussing how the production crew differentiatedFionna and Cakefrom the originalAdventure Timeseries, Muto revealed that the crew members "were looking for ways to explore stories and characters that can be pretty different than Finn."While Finn is a selfless and energetic hero, Fionna is more ordinary and realistic, since she does not live in a world of magic and is not as skilled as a fighter. In this limited series, therefore, the writers "wanted to see where [Fionna would] go if she kind of knew about that magical world from the first series which had been denied her".Muto later added that the crew attempted to make Fionna more than just "Girl Finn" by giving her a unique personality that, in certain respects, is "way different than Finn and others."The crew also took this contrasting approach when working on Cake: While Jake is a lazy dog with the power to stretch his body into a whole number of fantastic shapes, Cake lacks magic powers and begins the series as a regular house cat.As to Jake's uncertain death, Muto decided to leave it ambiguous and noted that he does not want to "say definitively what the answer is". For adult Finn's possible future adventures, Muto liked the idea of Finn living his own life, and so they decided to not feature him in more than a few episodes. To make up for this, the writers brought back Farmworld Finn, a character who is different from the Finn of the main series.Previously, while both the voice actorsOlivia OlsonandErica Luttrellare ofAfricandescent, and Marceline's mother was aperson of color, Marceline and Marshall share the look of gray vampire skin; inFionna and Cake, Marshall Lee is withdark skinas a human character.The series makes a number of references to the 1982 sitcomCheers. Muto explained that at first, references to the show were a joke, and that many of the crew members had never actually seen the production.Initially, the song had been featured in thefifth-seasonAdventure Timeepisode "Simon & Marcy", wherein it was used by Simon as a way to retain his sanity.InFionna and Cake, the sitcom and its theme symbolize Simon's life before his discovery of the ice crown, and in Fionna's world, it is the only television program available, reflecting the fact that Simon is mentally stuck at that point in time.The crew considered writing an episode that wouldtake place in the worldofThe Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.Although this idea was never fully realized, the series is briefly referenced in a scene in episode "Prismo the Wishmaster", wherein Prismo shows Fionna, Cake, and Simon a variety of universes.The inspiration in animation often came fromSeattle, where Muto was born; a building as seen in the episode "Jerry", is based onSuzzallo Libraryin theUniversity of Washington.
After the finale of the first season, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season on December 5, 2023.
The three main characters were voiced by the original cast ofAdventure Time, namelyMadeleine Martinas Fionna,Roz Ryanas Cake, andTom Kennyas Simon Petrikov.Donald Glovervoiced Marshall Lee, while other cast members includeAndrew Rannells,Kayleigh McKeeand Sean Rohani.According to the trailer and the synopsis by Max, Finn, Jake,Princess BubblegumandMarceline the Vampire Queenappear in the series.In the originalAdventure Timeseries, the character Prismo was voiced byKumail Nanjiani. However, due to a communication mishap with Nanjiani's representatives, the producers ofAdventure Timebelieved that the actor was not available to reprise his role forFionna and Cake, so they recast the part. Nanjiani later expressed his frustrations onTwitter, writing: "[Prismo is] one of my absolute favorite characters I've ever had the honor of playing... I would have [voiced him] for free... [The situation] is ridiculous."In the original series, Prince Gumball was voiced byNeil Patrick Harrisand laterKeith Ferguson;Justin Roilandoriginally voiced Earl of Lemongrab and he was replaced byJinkx Monsoon, who later co-voiced withCree Summeras the Lemoncarbs, the gender-swapped human version of Lemongrab as twin sisters.
Some known cast of the rest of characters are as follows. In the first two episodes, there areRobbie Daymond(Ice Prince),Niki Yang(BMO),Maria Bamford(Starchy),Chelsea Peretti(Queenie),Phil LaMarr(Dog Tourist),Jack Pendarvis(Dirt Beer Guy),Dan Mintz(TV),Dee Bradley Baker,Erica Mendez(Skater Fairies & Ice Scout #1),Cristina Vee(Skater Fairies & Ice Scout #2),Jeff Bennett(Evil Choose Goose & Choose Bruce). For episodes 3-4, there areGrey DeLisle(Ice Cream Queen),Sharon Horgan(Minerva-bot),Marc Maron(Squirrel),Jim Cummings(The Owl),Melissa Villaseñor(Rainy),Andrew Daly(Kheirosiphon & Wyatt); for the episode 5, there areJames Kyson(Big Destiny),Mickey Zacchilli(Little Destiny), Tiffany Wu (Jay),Eric Bauza(Peanut), Nia Castro (Bonnie). For episodes 7-8, there areJenny Slate(Huntress),Stephen Root(Martin Mertens),Erica Luttrell(Hana Abadeer),Billy Brown(Vampire King),Steve Little(virtual assistantof Peppermint Butler),Cole Sanchez(Moderator & Heckler #2),David McCormack(Orbo). In the last two episodes, there areSean Giambrone(Shermy),Imani Hakim(Beth), Iggy Craig (Casper) and Rosie Brand (Nova).
As withAdventure Time,Rough Draft KoreaandSaerom Animationworked on different episodes of the spin-off series. In an interview withAnimation Magazine, Adam Muto revealed that for this spin-off, the writers had to plot out the season beforehand; this approach was required of them by Max, and it contrasted with how the writers had approached storylines when working with Cartoon Network. Muto noted that the production was challenging because there was not much overlap in terms of color palette and backgrounds, as each episode is basically its own new world. Approximately 50 crew members fromCartoon Network Studiosworked on the pre- and post-production side; the production started in 2021, during the time of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Most of the team was based in California, but some animators were as far away asRussiaandJapan; during the height of the pandemic, about 90% of the work was done remotely until the studio reopened in 2022.Production of the first season ofAdventure Time: Fionna and Cakeended on December 9, 2022.
FormerAdventure TimecrewmembersRebecca Sugar, Somvilay Xayaphone, andPatrick McHale, as well asDistant LandscomposerAmanda Jones, returned to compose songs for the spin-off.The series intro and end credits were storyboarded bySteve Wolfhardand animated byNick Cross,that latter of whom also animated thesilent filmsequence in the fourth episode "Prismo the Wishmaster" and the Orbo scenes of the eighth episode, "Jerry".The song "Not Myself", written by Zuzu, is the intro song for the first episode "Fionna Campbell";Sugar wrote two songs, "Part of the Madness" and "Cake on the Loose".For the sixth episode "The Winter King", McHale and J. R. Kaufman wrote two songs "Winter Wonder World" and "Baked with Love",and the animation sequence of "Winter Wonder World" was directed byAlex and Lindsay Small-Butera(SmallBü),who previously guest animated twoAdventure Timeepisodes, "Beyond the Grotto" and "Ketchup".The eighth episode "Jerry" features a song "Everything in You", written and performed by Half Shy, who also wrote the song "Monster" from theDistant Landsspecial "Obsidian".The 3D game sequences of the last two episodes were designed and animated by Louie Zong.
DuringSan Diego Comic-Conon July 20, 2023, Max announced that theAdventure Time: Fionna and Cakewould debut on August 31, and a trailer was released on August 17. Within five weeks between the debut to September 28, two episodes were released each week, making up ten episodes in total.
Outside the United States, the series debuted on the same day inAustraliaon the streaming serviceBinge, and later byFox8on September 1.The series also premiered onCartoon NetworkinCanadaon September 15.
Before the debut, Chase Hutchinson ofIGNcommented thatFionna and Cakesidesteps mawkishness and embraces a distinctly unsentimental tone, which he found invigorating. He argued that "it ponders how the complex characters may have changed since we last saw them and, in recurring meta interjections, how its creators may have changed themselves".Kaiya Shunyata ofRogerEbert.comsaid that the series let viewers "fall in love with different versions of characters that viewers initially fell in love with 13 years ago" and argued that the series remains "true to the show's fans".Coleman Spilde ofThe Daily Beastsaid the series is far from a "nostalgia-baiting cash grab" but is rather a "marked expansion of theAdventure Timelore", and stated that the series replicates the "soothing character design and animation style" fromAdventure Time. He also argued that the series has "meta fun at its own history" and said that it succeeds whereAdventure Time"faltered".
Jake Kleinman ofInversesaid that the series moves the "entire franchise forward by leaps and bounds", called it one of the "most emotionally mature entries" in the franchise, and added that the series is, at its heart, "a story about the heartbreak of growing up".Nick Valdez ofComicBook.comstated that the series ushers in a "whole new era of the franchise" by focusing on "darker tones" and called it a "series made with fans of the original series in mind".Aryan Khanna noted that the series shifts into mature storylines while maintaining the original charm, comparing it withThe Legend of Korraand some other series reboots for new generations; Khanna argued that this results in a fascinating combination of existential inquiry, appealing adventures, and whimsical comedy.Reuben Baron ofPastesaid that the series is "targeted specifically at a young adult audience," called it a show for "hardcore" fans, and compared the first two episodes toBee and PuppycatandSteven Universe Future. He also stated that the use of multiverses in the series resemblesLokiandSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and called the series a "worthy continuation of the legendary cartoon".
As of September 2023,Fionna and Cakehas a 100% approval rating onRotten Tomatoesbased on 10 reviews, and 78/100 onMetacriticbased on 5 reviews.
Samantha Puc ofPolygonand James Factora ofThemboth gave praise to the series for its queer representation—mainly through the romantic relationship between Marshal Lee and Gary Prince. Puc noted the intercutting between the relationships of Gary and Marshall Lee versus their gender-swapped counterparts Bubblegum and Marceline in "The Star", commenting that "they are always written as each other'sromantic destinies".Factora contrasted Gary and Marshall's "unabashedly gay relationship" with "how contrivedly heterosexual" the early seasons ofAdventure Timecould be at times.Puc similarly contrastedFionna and Cake'scasual presentation of "queerness as a given in its parallel universes" with the earlierAdventure Time, which had to "[fight] hard for increased and visible queer inclusion".
Muto noted that, instead of him actively asking for it, theLGBTQ+representation came out of the involved  writers and artists themselves, who want their identities to be expressed and portrayed, and it became more overt inSteven Universeand some following shows.After the finale, about Gary and Marshall's romance as well as Bonnie and Marcy's rivalry, Susana Polo ofPolygonargued that "a franchise once imprisoned byheteronormativecensorship gave its fan-beloved queer couple multiversal staying power."