Steven Universe Creator Reveals How Garnet’s Wedding Was Changed

Steven Universe is now celebrating its tenth anniversary of its original premiere with Cartoon Network, and the creator behind it all opened up about how much Garnet’s wedding was changed before it actually happened in the series! Steven Universe broke a lot of ground in the world of animation as it not only opened up the demographics to a wide range of new fans, but it also tackled a lot of stories about identity, different types of love, and more. Now ten years later as we start to see how much the animation world has been inspired by it, it’s a good time to look back on its biggest moments. 

One of those huge moments came during Season 5 of the series with “Reunited,” which not only had Garnet marry themselves as Ruby and Sapphire made their partnership official, it also kicked off a new wave of fights for the series heading into its final moments. Speaking with Variety about the episode itself, Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar detailed how much Garnet’s wedding had changed from the time the concept itself was introduced to its eventual debut in the series. 

How Garnet’s Wedding Changed in Steven Universe

“It was completely different,” Sugar began to explain how different Garnet’s wedding was in its original plan for Steven Universe. “Originally, the idea was a single episode, and it was called ‘If You Love Yourself So Much.’ The implication, the unsaid part being, why don’t you marry yourself? Garnet was gonna marry herself, and originally she was going to do it as Garnet. It was going to be a single episode where she was just going to get a chance to celebrate herself, and put a ring on each of her fingers.” Then those plans began to change when they couldn’t introduce the idea right away. 

“When we couldn’t do it at the time, we started looking ahead, and trying to find a way where we could do this story in the most impactful way, but also in a way that was so interwoven into the story that it couldn’t be lifted out,” Sugar continued. “Because that was the issue, is that this single episode about Garnet, we could have done it or we could have not done it. It would have had the subtle ramifications of the characters [Sapphire and Ruby] being married from then on. So we were looking for some of the most impactful action sequences that we were going to do, some of the biggest musical numbers that we were intending to do, and trying to just put them all around this event, so that it could feel as climactic as it deserves to be.”

Then the concept began to evolve as Sugar elaborated further, “It became part of the two-parter in ‘Reunited’ and this long ramp-up, and I’m so glad because I love that we got to show their proposal, I love that we got to show them having time apart — I think the characters got an opportunity to grow.” Continuing further Sugar explained, “Ruby and Sapphire got an opportunity to change and grow and confront some things that they hadn’t confronted, and we also had to ask ourselves tough questions about, what is it about these characters that makes this so important for them to do? How is their relationship changing that makes this the next step?”

“It’s a very human custom, why is this something they’re interested in? And we realized that, it’s strange to say, the next step in their relationship was to be able to be alone a little bit more, so that being together could be meaningful in a new way,” Sugar explained. But what did you think of Steven Universe handling Garnet’s wedding? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!