What (Really) Is the Future for Gravity Falls?

Over the course of 3 years, and 8 months, from June 2012, to February 2016, Gravity Falls aired its 2 season, and 17 shorts long run. The show ended over 3 and a half years ago. But yet, until just last year, Gravity Falls was pumping out new content in one form or another. Lost Legends and the box set really were a final hoorah for us. Since then however, there really has not been much to show from our favourite show set in a sleepy little Pacific Northwest town.

Ever since GF ended, we’ve gotten something new each summer. In 2016 we got Cipher Hunt, the release of the unaired pilot, Journal 3, and Time Pirates’ Treasure. The summer of 2017 brought us Journal 3 Special Edition, the GF colouring book, Sooscast, and the announcement of the then graphic novel (plus the Journal 3 infomercial and Stan-fiction by Soos promo shorts, but those came out in February and March respectively). Finally, just last summer, we got that graphic novel, Lost Legends, and of course, the GF box set with tons of new stuff (plus the Mad Libs book in February 2018). But this summer…nothing. And that got me wondering, with Disney+ launching soon, and with all the announcements of new stuff being made for it, what REALLY therefore, is the future for Gravity Falls? As in, what is left for the show, and what is its future holding as we go into the new decade in 4 months?

As always, I should state these are my personal opinions based on what we know. I don’t claim to be right, but it’s the best guess I have based on the facts I’ll be discussing and sharing on here.

Right, now to begin by getting the elephant out of the room…

THERE WILL NOT BE A SEASON 3!!!!

I’m sorry, but if you still think that Gravity Falls is getting a 3rd season, you’re holding onto a dead horse. Alex Hirsch has said on countless occasions that the show is over, and that no season 3 was ever planned to be made, and never will be made. It’s not a matter of Alex being forced to end the show after 2 seasons because Disney said that that’s all he’d get. Gravity Falls ended on his , not Disney’s. Had that been the case, GF probably would have kept going for a while longer, and maybe only now would have ended. It would be a Phineas and Ferb scenario with the summer going on and on forever. But that’s not the case, and even if it was, that would be because Disney owns the rights to the show, not Alex. Asking him for this stuff is useless, as he has no legal rights to the show, other than being its creator. Plus, I should state that if Disney really wanted to make more Gravity Falls, they’d already have done so, given the popularity of the franchise. They’re (surprisingly too, cause it’s money hungry Disney we’re taking about here) respecting Alex’s creative choice to only have 2 seasons. Long story short, no season 3. But what about the other GF related stuff?

Shorts and other content

Along with books, each year we also got some new content in forms of newly filmed stuff. 2016, though not new, saw the release of the infamous unaired pilot for Gravity Falls. 2017 saw the Stan-fiction short promos, the Journal 3 infomercial, and Sooscast. Finally, 2018 saw the Lost Legends infomercial, and the boat load of exclusive box set content, like the documentary, deleted scenes, and commentary to name but a few, be released. However, beyond that, there isn’t much to see. 2019 has not given us anything. Alex did say he was open to new content for the series in the form of shorts or specials, but referring to what I said above, unless he himself decides to do it, I wouldn’t keep your hopes up.

Books

Books are pretty much what have kept the GF hype train going into 2019 (fandom too). Every year we’ve gotten new books. Whether it be new content books like Lost Legends and Journal 3, retelling of episodes in comic book form, like in the Cinestory books, or even non canon stuff made just for fun like TPT (even if all fans about that book is the one stupid Axolotl poem). The GF books are what have kept the lore of the show alive. But 2019 is the first year since the show ended in which no new GF books have come out. Alex did say that if Lost Legends was successful, Disney may let him make more graphic novels. But in the end, that is his own choice. According to him, his relationship with Disney itself is similar to a divorced couple, while it’s stronger with Disney’s book publishing division (hence why we got Lost Legends last year). Beyond that, the GF cinestories are also done for. Cinestories for anyone who doesn’t know, are books that contain episodes of shows in comic book form. Gravity Falls has 4 of them, as well as 4 mini books containing the shorts. More were set for this year, including a huge boxed set of all the books, but they all were cancelled. The reason is because the cinestory books were made for Disney by a Canadian company called Joe Books. That company went bankrupt in April, meaning the remaining GF cinestories, and all future ones have been cancelled. With this uncertain fate, the GF cinestories are now gone, and the unless Alex decides to make more, the GF books are done too. Journal 3 SE is never to be made again, as said for by Hirsch, and the likelihood for a GF art book, something I really want, is slim. But who knows? No one saw Lost Legends coming, so Alex may surprise us yet again, even if it isn’t this year cause D23, the last real chance to announce this stuff in a major way, has ed.

Merchandise

The Gravity Falls merchandise universe was once full of variety. But lately it’s seen a sharp decline. The once large amount of merch to choose from has dropped. The GF vinylmation figures are long discontinued, and so are the small character figures, and plushies made by Jazwares (Waddles plushies are still sold in remaining stock piles on Amazon, but bootleg versions are everywhere, so look out if you wanna buy one). Even the newer merch is seeing it’s end in sight. While Funko did release a Hot Topic exclusive Waddles pop this year, it also discontinued the Grunkle Stan pop last year, and Mabel pop this year. The Dipper, Bill, and Mabelcorn pops are all that remain, and even they will see an end of production soon enough, and with no new Funko pops for GF on the horizon, it’s likely this is the end. Beyond that however, Domez has released two waves of collectable figures of several GF characters for us to buy. They’re worth a look if you’re into them.

Do not worry though, there is one other set of GF merchandise I have not yet spoken of. The Mystery Shack! No, not the show shack, I mean The Mystery Shack website. Created by TheMysteryofGF, Gravity Falls’ biggest fan, as said by Alex Hirsch himself, the website offers officially licensed merchandise for Gravity Falls, and many other shows too. How he is able to get the licenses from Disney to make these, who knows. But what it means is that you can buy merch from him, and it’s officially licensed GF merch too, not a cheap bootleg. Going into 2020, as companies move away from GF to other shows, this little website run by one huge fan will keep our fan thirst for content alive, and may soon even become the only place left, where you can by OFFICAL GF merchandise.

So, I’ve spoken about the show’s future in of content and merchandise, but what about those who made it?

The GF crew

Gravity Falls would be nothing without its team of artists, writers, voice actors, etc. There’s so many to name, but I’ll run down a few of the notable ones. After GF ended, many of the people in the GF crew moved on to other shows within Disney at the time like Star. However, a majority of them moved over to Ducktales, which had been announced to be coming by the time GF ended. People like Jon Aoshima, Emmy Cicierega, and more moved over to Ducktales 2017 after GF ended. Emmy of course was also the illustrator of TPT, and the one behind the GF colouring book. Others in the GF team saw success in other ways, like making their own shows. Matt Braly went on to create Amphibia, and after directing on Ducktales, and illustrating Lost Legends story 4, Dana Terrace is now the producer of her own Disney Channel show called the Owl House. It’s set to begin in January of 2020.

But not everyone stayed at Disney. Of course, many within the GF cast moved on. Kristen Schaal has gone on to be in other shows and movies (more adult ones), while Jason Ritter had his own show for a while before it got cancelled. But the biggest destination for many in the GF crew was Netflix. Jeffrey Rowe, the author of TPT, now works there as a writer on Disenchantment, while former GF writer Shion Takeuchi is now producing a new animated adult show for the streaming giant.

Finally, there’s one more major member of the GF team that’s now part of the Netflix family…

Alex Hirsch!

In case you didn’t know, Alex signed a deal last August to produce new shows at Netflix. For a long time, many thought he has signed a deal with Fox to make a show for them. But given it was taking forever, and with Disney now owning Fox, many wondered what Alex was up to there. He eventually revealed in late 2017 via Twitter that he never did sign a deal with Fox. He only had talks with them, nothing more. But, his Netflix announcement is true, given all that we already know from both himself, and what’s been reported. Recently it was announced he was co-producing the show Inside Job. The animated adult Netflix cartoon is of course, being made by Shion. But what about Alex himself, and his own projects? Well, on the H3 podcast last year, Alex said he hoped to have something to announce to us in the Fall. Well, Fall is upon us now. We may very soon know what Alex is getting up to over at Netflix. And no, it’s not anything GF related. He legally can’t. Like I said above, Gravity Falls is owned by Disney, and Hulu has streaming rights for it in the US. Also, with Gravity Falls being added to Disney+ when it comes out, which is gonna be a rival to Netflix, it’s pretty evident that Alex and Gravity Falls are approaching their final stop together. I mean, Alex even said back in the day that he always wanted to make a more adult themed cartoon. While GF sure did push boundaries, and have many hidden adult jokes, now being part of Netflix, we will soon be able to see what Alex Hirsch truly can do, when not held back by Disney’s censors.

So, to be realistic, the future of Gravity Falls in of official stuff is looking bleak. But what about the fandom?

The GF fandom is probably the biggest shock of this whole show. Despite being without new episodes for over 3 years, it has maintained itself, and continues to thrive. Fans continue to make art for it, write stories about it, cosplay as its characters, and much more (some insanely talented fans even made a Grunkle dating simulator for all the Stan and Ford fangirls out there to fulfill their dreams ;). Heck, there’s a lost legends fanzine currently being made. And not only that, a small team of fans are making a whole new fan made continuation of the show, called Deep Woods.

And while it’s not always good stuff, often character hating to make a quick view/buck, cartoon YouTube channels are still pumping GF stuff and theories out. Along with that, the fandom has its fair share of group events such as Stanuary, and for a small while, a fan made Cipher Hunt called Codemageddon. Finally, GF memes are slowly becoming popular in the memeverse (the gf sub Reddit is basically a meme page now).

So, all things considered, what does the future really hold for Gravity Falls? Well, from what we’ve seen, the show as what it was is unlikely to ever comeback, books are now done for, merchandise is also sort of on its final legs, the cast and crew have moved on, and because he now works at Netflix, which has no real rights to it, it’s unlikely Alex Hirsch will be making more GF content again, and if so, not for a while, as he’s now focusing on his new endeavours.

That just leaves us fans. What can we as fans do to keep the show alive? Well, look at where you’re reading this…Gravity Falls Amino. This is a community made by fans, for fans of Gravity Falls. We wouldn’t be here if the people who made this Amino didn’t decide that the show needed a fan community on this app, and make it. While GF Amino may have been made regardless, I doubt it would be as great as it is now, had the original creators been different. The show may have ended 3+ years ago, but does that mean we gotta move on? No! Should we stop talking about GF? No! Jason Ritter didn’t say Gravity Falls is real and it will never die for nothing. The day the last Gravity Falls fan leaves, that will be the day this show truly dies. The show maybe over, but the after party is (hopefully) eternal.

I don’t know 100% what is next for Gravity Falls, but as for what its future holds? Well, as long as they’re stars in the night sky, and fans who refuse to say goodbye, Gravity Falls will never, ever, truly die.

And that marks the end of this, my last major blog.

:')

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#GravityFalls

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#GoodbyeGravityFalls