Bubbleblabber The Magazine Issue #2 Cover Story: Olan Rogers Discusses Final Space Season Three

In 2017, TBS President Kevin Reilly announced a renewed push into adult animation following the success of Family Guy reruns and the continued support of American Dad. Unlike Adult Swim which focused on oft-kilter adult animation, TBS wanted to move more into adult animation that could both provide a pipeline for syndication and bolser younger viewing audiences for the network. Among the franchises announced for series orders were additional seasons of American Dad, JG Quintel’s Close Enough, Louis CK/Albert Brooks’ The Cops, Carson Mells’ Tarantula, and Olan Rogers’ Final Space. 

Fast forward to the end of 2020, JG Quintel’s Close Enough was modified for streaming service HBO MAX that must have worked as the franchise was renewed for a second season that is currently in production, both The Cops and Tarantula get canceled, and Kevin Reilly becomes a cap casualty by AT&T’s WarnerMedia as he and a multitude of employees are let go in cost-cutting measures to help the communications conglomerate pay down a whopping $100 billion debt as it tries to position HBO MAX to take on rivals like Disney+ and Netflix in an increasingly unstable streaming service bubble that is slowly coming to a head. 

Let it be known, nine times out of ten we find an animated series typically gets canceled after a season two, it’s typically due to network interference. Whether it’s constantly changing the schedule of when premiere episodes can be seen, no marketing for brand awareness, or constant network notes that derail a creator’s initial vision. Sometimes these can work, in the case of Bob’s Burgers, I doubt the franchise would have gotten to where it has had it not for changing the premise originally introduced in the pilot episode. But, when you see successes in the form of say, South Park, it’s usually as a result of no network interference. The job of the network or streaming service is to believe in their producers to bring ratings that will attract advertisers no matter which way. 

“That’s the hand that was dealt, not the best hand, but we’re still playing instead of folding” says Olan Rogers who is readying the third season of Final Space which is slated to premiere Spring 2021 on maybe Adult Swim (Olan notes that’s the plan as of this writing, but the idea of premiering the series on HBO MAX has also been floated), “we walked out of that season (2) pretty banged up but we’re still moving. I mean, the network was changing, it was bought out by AT&T during the season, we switched to Adult Swim a month before the premiere, notes coming from every exec from the bottom all the way to the top, and almost no marketing budget. Despite all of this, Final Space season two (a season largely derided as creatively inferior to the show’s first season that aired on TBS) would increase in the ratings approximately 40% and gain even more fervor internationally where Netflix takes on the lion’s share of the global viewership. 

We had a chance to interview Olan Rogers ahead of the debut of Final Space back in 2017 and it was then that he told us that he nearly gave up his dream of working in television, 

“eventually I told myself I had to keep going”. After years of building a cult following on Youtube by telling stories and producing vlogs, Olan had felt that his career wasn’t moving fast enough when one fateful  rainy day, while being in the parking lot of a grocery store, he swiped his smartphone screen to see an email sent to him by Conan O’Brien who had seen Rogers’ work and wanted to discuss more about it, “I started crying right then and there”.

I do recall Olan noting that producing Final Space was going to be an uphill battle, “the work starts now”, but I don’t think any producer of animated television has matched the ridiculousness that this guy has gone through to make sure the franchise stays this successful. That said, Olan remains upbeat and excited about producing Final Space season three, and although the network has been largely absent this time in providing anymore disastrous plot notes, it doesn’t mean 2020 has necessarily been kind to the young producer,”COVID hit us during the beginning of production; I mean bullseye.” Like all of the animated series being produced in 2020, COVID-19 forced the industry to upgrade their systems and move forward which has been both a blessing and a disguise for the industry due to the fact that the increase in demand for animated content has skyrocketed but… “I haven’t met any of the new staff, boarders or artists because of working at home. David and I had to write apart, which was weird. The part that sucked the most was seeing people I’ve grown to care about, who I’ve now worked with for over four years, just go through their own mental fight. The entire team went through it; you could feel the burn out happening towards the end of storyboarding”. 

To make matters worse, Olan Rogers’ challenges even predated the arrival of coronavirus, “ my (soda) shop was taken out by an F-3 tornado, so I was in a really weird mental state.” Despite all of this, Olan is highly regarded as one of the most conversational television producers in the business. While most producers take on more cloak and dagger practices when discussing their franchises, Olan gives no shits and gives fans weekly updates on Reddit all about where the show is in it’s production cycle and then gives his honest and insightful takes as it pertains to merchandise, season renewal updates, and even his personal life, “ it’s the least I can do considering how much support they have given me throughout the many years. Many of the people who have supported me have been doing so for more than a decade. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I try to interact, engage, and connect with them as much as possible. And it really is a joy! It can be exhausting at times, but a few seconds out of my day can often make someone’s day, and that makes it so worth it. I’ve always said a big part of my success, if you can call it that, is the support from everyone”.

Despite any of these challenges, Olan is marching on towards what he constantly says is “the best season ever” in Final Space season three. He notes that the upcoming season will return the franchise to it’s more serialized format introduced in the show’s first season, “ in season 1, I had so much stress about whether we made something good. In season 2, I had so much stress that people would hate the show . Now season 3, I’m genuinely excited for everyone to see this season because I think it’s unique. It’s firing on every cylinder we have. Every dollar is on the screen, so much so that we had to rewrite aspects of the last three episodes so the show could be made.”

As you may have guessed, Final Space season three is being written almost entirely by David Sacks and Olan Rogers as opposed to past seasons where writers’ rooms were a bit more collaborative. Reason being is that the direction and tone of Final Space is corrected and is able to charge forward given that Olan is planning on Final Space season three This has always been the biggest hurdle with Final Space, so much so that we change how we wrote Season 3. David Sacks and I wrote every episode but two. Anytime someone tries to write an episode, we usually have to re-write it, and that’s not a reflection on the writer’s talents.” Oh, and yes, season four is in the early writing stages. Until then, Olan notes that this season, “the gloves are off” and he’s eager to have fans see the end result which should patch up and hurt feelings from those who weren’t in favor of the stylistic changes in season two, “one of my favorite things about this season is when you get to mid-season the show hits the acceleration and doesn’t let up, it just gets more and more intense. We usually ramp down before the finale but there are at least 3 to 4 finale sized episodes this season. “

Efforts to expand the franchise are in motion, as well. No, the VR spin-off is dead (and to be honest, is anybody even giving a shit about VR for home use anymore?), but 2020 saw Olan give us continued merchandise that is now extending into multimedia like music releases (of note, season one/two composer Shelby Merry is not returning to help score the the third season, but, Andrew Goodwin is), action figures (possibly for a 2021 release), and Blu-Rays which is good because as of this writing Final Space hasn’t had a US streaming home other than a failed attempt at making VRV relevant again (VRV is expected to be shuttered by Crunchyroll at the end of 2020 after a pending sale by WarnerMedia to Sony completes). The expectation is that Final Space will continue to premiere episodes on Adult Swim, then a week later on TBS,and finally be made available to stream on HBO MAX at some point. International Netflix subscribers need to just wait for the entire season to finish/premiere here in the States and then all 13 episodes will be delivered at the same time. 

“It’s no secret season 2 was a challenge. It was like navigating a minefield, never knowing what would explode. I think we had 30-40 drafts on that 1st episode, completely different episode 2 and beyond. It’s easy to look at season 2 downfalls and pick away the threads, but there is some good in that season. I have this thing I say to myself that during that point in time, with all the obstacles, budget, and limitations, was it the best you could do? The answer for, it was.”

Make no mistake, Olan is just as excited about Final Space now as he has ever been, and the show creator holds no ill will towards the network that got him here, “ TBS gets a lot of flak, but even everything, they have been excellent partners. I’ve met some of the most genuine people I’ve ever met there, and I don’t for one-second regret going with TBS. If the show was canceled tomorrow, I would thank them from the deepest part of my heart for giving me a shot. But here we are on season three, and they completely back off. It’s almost scary how polar opposite both seasons have been. I think season 3 is Final Space at it’s best. Will there be things that people will hate? Probably. Is it perfect? No. Is it the best our teams could do with the obstacles, budget, and limitations? 100000000% Every dollar we had is on screen.” 

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.