Finn and Jake are officially back on the menu, bro. Cartoon Network is returning to the Land of Ooo with Adventure Time: Side Quests, a new companion series built around the duo’s earlier, sillier adventures.
The new spin-off will debut in the United States on June 29 via Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. For international territories, the show is scheduled to air on Cartoon Network and stream on HBO Max starting October 5.
For Malaysian and SEA fans, that October window is the one to watch. Since Hulu is not really part of our local streaming life, the more relevant route will likely be HBO Max and Cartoon Network availability in the region. If you grew up catching Cartoon Network after school, this one feels like a proper nostalgia hit.
Unlike some franchise revivals that try to age everything up or make the lore heavier, Side Quests is being positioned as a lighter entry point for new viewers. The idea is to revisit the energy of early Adventure Time: shorter, self-contained stories, weird jokes, oddball quests, and that chaotic Ooo flavour before the series became deeper and more emotionally layered.
That approach actually makes sense. Adventure Time’s later seasons became beloved partly because they were surprisingly mature, but the original magic was Finn and Jake wandering into nonsense and somehow making it meaningful. For younger viewers in 2026, Side Quests could be a cleaner doorway into the franchise without asking them to catch up on years of lore first.
The voice cast also brings back several familiar names. John DiMaggio returns as Jake the Dog, while Sasha Knight takes over as Finn the Human. Other returning cast members include Tom Kenny as Ice King, Hynden Walch as Princess Bubblegum, Olivia Olson as Marceline, and Niki Yang as BMO.
Behind the scenes, Nate Cash is serving as showrunner and executive producer. Darrick Bachman is on board as story editor, with Victor Courtright and Niki Yang directing. Nick Cross handles art direction, while Matthew Janszen is composing the music.
Cash described the experience of making Side Quests as something close to the original Adventure Time creative spirit — basically a bunch of artists making cartoons together with that same playful energy. That is a good sign, because Adventure Time works best when it feels handmade, strange, and slightly unhinged in the best way.
This is also part of Cartoon Network’s wider push to revive or revisit its classic shows. Adventure Time has already continued through other spin-off projects, including stories that explored alternate versions of its world, and Cartoon Network has also revealed that an Adventure Time movie is still in development.
For SEA fans, the timing is pretty nice. A lot of us who grew up with Adventure Time are now older fans, but the show still has strong appeal for younger viewers discovering it through streaming, clips, and fan art. If Side Quests really leans into fun, low-commitment episodes, it could become an easy weekly comfort watch — the kind of show you throw on after work, class, or ranked games when your brain is already cooked.
No need to oversell it: this is not trying to be the biggest anime-adjacent event of the year. But Finn and Jake returning with a more classic Adventure Time vibe? That is definitely worth keeping on the radar.
Source: ComicBook Anime