Thoughts on Gumball's Final Seasons

Is The Amazing World of Gumball ending? The short answer is “Yes”. Last week, according to creator Ben Bocquelet’s Twitter after the airing of the two-part Season 4 finale, as you can see from this screenshot, he said in that tweet and I quote “Did you guys enjoy the double bill? Cos we got a lot more in store for our last season!"

Many of his followers from Twitter, myself included, began asking questions, to which he responded to some. In this next tweet you will see, he said that it was his decision to end the series after Season 6. He also made a few more saying the audience would end up getting sick and tired of the show, and he would like to pursue other projects. So Season 6 is the right time to properly end the series.

When asked of a possible movie, he answered “doubt it”. Though there are rumors that elements of the supposed movie will be incorporated to the series, much like the 8-part Stakes in Adventure Time. There is also word that the writing for Season 6 is actually finished, leaving only the recording and the animation process. Bocquelet ended the discussion saying that he will leave the show after Season 6, but Cartoon Network will still have the option to renew it for a Season 7, but without Bocquelet at the helm.

Personally, while I am saddened that Gumball is ending (at least for now), at the same time I’m very much ok with it and agree with Bocquelet. 6 Seasons is a whole lot and I don’t want Gumball to end up like the other shows that stale in quality due to having an extremely long run – Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, Family Guy, South Park, etc.

Furthermore, in Bocquelet's case, seeing that Gumball is his first and currently his only work in animation, it's understandable why he wants to pursue other projects. Seth McFarlane started off working on Johnny Bravo before doing Family Guy, and has done very well for himself with his other works, such as the Ted movies. I find it a bit hard imagining what Rebecca Sugar would do after Steven Universe.

And really, when you look back at the show from the very beginning, they’ve gone a quite a long way from the very first season. From design, to humor, and even had an actual plot. As Gumball is the 2nd most watched CN Original behind Teen Titans GO, it’s considered as the counterpart to the Fairly Oddparents – both are very episodic shows with a subtle plot in the background. The difference is that one has threw the plot away in favor of just doing episodes, whereas the other has never forgotten it, and is slowly leading up to the big reveal.

That being said, the chances of Gumball to get a Season 7 order from Cartoon Network are likely because of its current status as the second most-watched series. With or without Ben Bocquelet, The Amazing World of Gumball is a cash cow for Cartoon Network and they do want to milk it dry.

On the other hand, if Cartoon Network does allow Bocquelet to end the series, it does give the channel brownie points for at least showing some respect to the shows’ creators, given the recent statuses of the other CN Originals like Uncle Grandpa and Regular Show.

Regardless as to whether or not The Amazing World of Gumball gets another season, I will follow the series at least up until the final episode that of which Ben Bocquelet is the showrunner. After which, I will clap my hands and say ‘Bravo’ to perhaps one of the best animated shows not just from Cartoon Network, but perhaps out of all the animated shows from this decade, and maybe even of all time! The title of the show pretty much describes it – it’s “Amazing”.