Adventure Time: Side Quests Interview: Nate Cash and Victor Courtright Talk Adorable Animated Spin-Off

Recently I got the chance to sit down with the showrunner and supervising director of Adventure Time: Side Quests, Nate Cash and Victor Courtright respectively. Debuting earlier this year as a back-to-basics prequel/soft reboot of the iconic Adventure Time series, I was able to discuss and learn more about much of what has made Side Quests work so well in advance of its upcoming second season with the people who made it possible.

Developing Adventure Time: Side Quests

Credit: Cartoon Network/Hulu

When I asked Nate Cash and Victor Courtright about the origins of the series, and their collaboration within it, Nate informed me that it all began with a simple request from the head of development at Cartoon Network for Adventure Time spin-off ideas, which could potentially cover anything within the vast scope of the franchise. After thinking it over, Nate realized just how much he really did love Finn in particular as a character and wanted to create a series that brought Finn back to the childhood days of the show’s earlier seasons, which he also worked on in various capacities up through Season 5.

As for Victor Courtright, he spent most of his early animation career as an admirer and fan of the original series, so when asked to come onboard for this new version, the answer was obviously yes. By the time Courtright came onboard, the show’s new art style, notable for its slightly more saturated colors and lack of character outlines, had already been firmly established as a way to help Side Quests stand out from the original and make this already lovable cast feel like “cute little stickers on top of this gorgeously rendered backdrop.”

Making Side Quests Work as a Prequel: Goals for Seasons 1 and 2

Credit: Cartoon Network/Hulu

Since Adventure Time: Side Quests is meant to be canon with the original series, I was curious to see if Cash and Courtright ever felt limited by what would and would not be available to them in terms of the overall series timeline. But while both admitted that this kind of expansive lore can potentially be intimidating, they generally always found new and exciting stories to tell within the early era cast of characters.

This is something they were very upfront about their struggles with during the initial stages of production, magnified by how the show’s first and upcoming second twenty-episode seasons were all part of the same 40-episode production order; meaning they had a lot of stories they needed to crack in relatively quick succession. The team got so good at it by the end that they had more than enough ideas for a potential third season, which they are eager to start work on if and when the powers that be “finally find that big green button.”

Favorite Episodes, Favorite Characters, and Casting a New Finn

Credit: Cartoon Network/Hulu

When discussing a potential favorite episode of the series so far, I had to make my case for Season 1’s “Game Night,” a tale about Bubblegum, Marceline, and Lumpy Space Princess playing copyright-free Dungeons and Dragons with Lady Rainicorn as the gamemaster, as one of the best. Cash and Courtright echoed similar sentiments but also felt especially excited for fans to see what they’ve cooked up for Season 2, specifically referencing an episode called “Wedgie Tree” and another called “Death Fiction,” the latter of which was animated entirely in-house and features a more experimental, “radical film school,” art style compared to the rest of the series.

In regard to if the crew had any particular favorite characters outside of the main duo of Finn and Jake, Nate Cash pointed out that Niki Yang’s BMO gets a lot of love and is generally seen as fun to write stories for, with Victor Courtright adding that most of the crew have particular “go-to characters,” namedropping Olivia Olson’s Marceline as an example. Speaking of characters and their iconic voices, just about the only original series voice actor that does not return for Side Quests is Jeremy Shada as Finn.

Credit: Cartoon Network/Hulu

Over the course of the original show’s run, Finn and Jeremy Shada aged alongside each other. While that was groundbreaking for the time, it means that Shada’s voice no longer fits the 12-year-old Finn at the center of Side Quests. Once Nate Cash was finally granted his request to “return to a kid voice,” the goal became not to replicate Shada’s delivery exactly, since that’s impossible, but rather to find someone who could match the same vibe of innocence and bravado seen by Young Finn.

Cash and Victor Courtright eventually found that vibe in the young Sasha Knight, who they’ve been consistently impressed by. They also noted how well Knight and Jake’s voice actor John DiMaggio bounce off each other in the rare instances where the two are able to record together. In many ways, the two actors have a similar found family bond that their characters do, with DiMaggio even leaving personal voice notes of encouragement for Knight.

What’s next for Adventure Time: Side Quests?

Credit: Cartoon Network/Hulu

As I alluded to earlier, Adventure Time: Side Quests has yet to be given an official greenlight for Season 3, but both Cash and Courtright definitely want to do it as soon as possible. Despite “shrinking budgets and tighter deadlines,” the series remains an incredibly fun project to work on simply because the world and characters bring so much joy and continuously capture their imaginations. If they were able to continue the series, they say their biggest goal would be to create “more experimental episodes like Death Fiction” and really let the crew play around with unique art styles. And I for one very much hope they get that chance.

Adventure Time: Side Quests Season 2 premieres October 2 on Hulu.