Steven Universe Creator Rebecca Sugar on the Incredible Response to the Series

Steven Universe: The Movie is set to premiere this coming Monday, September 2nd, on Cartoon Network, and it serves as a culmination of sorts to everything that’s come before. At this point, it feels fair to call the five seasons of the television show (so far) a beloved piece of entertainment; the response to the series from fans has been nothing short of phenomenal, and creator Rebecca Sugar seems to agree.

Speaking with Sugar ahead of the release of the film, ComicBook.com had a chance to catch up the franchise’s creator in order to talk everything from the film’s villain, surprises in store for the audience, and more. To sum up our conversation, at least the pre-premiere portion of it, we had to ask: what does it feel like to have had such a tremendous positive response to the series so far?

“Oh, it’s overwhelming,” Sugar said. “It’s really moving. The show is so special to me and so personal. To have it be received so warmly and to have it be understood, I really didn’t hold back on personal feelings and personal experiences expressed through the show. I really wasn’t sure if that would all make sense to the audience, but I didn’t want to be inauthentic. To feel heard in this way is just staggering.”

“When people reach out to me and say, ‘I’d never seen a story like this episode or what’s going on between these characters, I’d never seen that before,’ and I understand that,” she continued, “there are a lot of things that I never saw in cartoons when I was younger that I thought, and up until making this show I thought, ‘Well, I guess only I have ever really felt like this.’ I wanted to talk about those things, I wanted to express those things to have people understand.”

“It’s just phenomenal,” she concluded. “I feel so much less alone in this world knowing that other people have been through similar things, some things that are really difficult to talk about, if that makes sense.”

How do you feel about Steven Universe? Are you excited to check out the movie when it premieres? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things animation! You can also check out our full review of the film, which we gave 5 out of 5, right here.

Steven Universe: The Movie is scheduled to premiere Monday, September 2nd, at 6PM ET on Cartoon Network.