Steven Universe has a future.

Now that Cartoon Network producer Rebecca Sugar’s Steven Universe has reached its pinnacle in The Steven Universe Movie, we can’t help feeling a bit wistful. The series is over – isn’t it?

As it turns out, no, it isn’t! The new season of Steven Universe gets a new title (Steven Universe Future), and a brand new outlook. All of Steven’s problem relationships are resolved (even including the galactically powerful and mysterious Diamonds of Home World), and Beach City is transformed into a utopia where humans and gems alike can live in peace and harmony – so where do we go from here?

Cartoon Network has released the new title sequence for the new season, and it shows how everything has changed – as well as showing off some new characters that will threaten everything Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems have fought for.

Pause the SCIFI.radio music stream while you watch, using the player controls at the upper right.

The new opening is short, but there’s a lot to unpack here. We get a new arrangement of the song Here We Are in the Future from The Steven Universe Movie. It still ends up on the beach, but it’s sung by all the Crystal Gems, with a cute little addendum by Peridot.

We see Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth, but we also get glimpses of the newly reformed Spinel, the surviving Diamonds from Homeworld, and other gems from throughout the series – but we also see Aquamarine and Jasper, and some other characters who have apparently joined sides with them. There is a cactus monster that looks a bit like Steven, some kind of enormous gem monster, and a pair of dark Lapis Lazulis. They are all on some kind of mission together, and it doesn’t look good for the good guys.

The new opening sequence was unveiled at the Steven Universe panel at this year’s New York Comic Con, where Rebecca Sugar announced that Steven Universe Future is meant as an epilogue to the series, which we think means that it will bring closure to the entire series. Depending on how quickly Cartoon Network and Rebecca Sugar want to wrap things up, though, it may run only one season, or it may run two or more, depending on how much storytelling there is left to do.

Watch this space.

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