[ID: A screenshot of a comment from tumblr user mechfried, saying, "Wait, that isn't working out here, they wouldn't cancel the show for having a gay wedding, but than [sic] give the same creator a movie and a second show to continue that story." End ID.]
"Cancellation" doesn't just mean "immediately ended." Cancellations can include shortenings.
These photos are from the "End of an Era" artbook.
Rebecca Sugar: After the publication of The Answer in 2016, I was pulled into a meeting and asked to explain myself. I had been told to play down this relationship, and now it existed as a book. In every meeting like this, I would defend our stories and our audience of queer youth--they deserve cartoons and picture books, too. I would leave these meetings feeling rattled. I drew this self-portrait the night of The Answer book meeting. [Portrait not included in this photo.]
We decided it would be an inexorable part of the story. And then the back-and-forth started, and no one wanted to say the real concerns, so instead it was, "Will this appeal to our demographic of six-to-eleven-year-old boys?" But Ben 10 had an alien wedding, Powerpuff Girls had a wedding--there was no question that the Cartoon Network audience would definitely watch a wedding. Arguments were made that it was "out of character" for Steven to want a wedding, but we'd covered our bases there with the episode "Open Book" [S1E51], which had already aired ages ago. It's old news that Steven loves weddings. I wouldn't bend on the story, and every time there was a concern about it not being entertaining enough, I would add more: A big musical number! A huge fight! A half-hour special! This thing will be so entertaining it'll blow kids' hair back!
"But if Steven Universe gets a gay wedding, then every show is going to want a gay wedding!" "YES!" I said. "GOOD! WHY NOT???"
Eventually the decision came down from on high: We could have the wedding. I knew that was an extremely difficult call to make, and that we were going to be censored heavily and pulled in many countries because of it. And we didn't know at that time if this would mean the end of the show. It looked as if the writing was on the wall, and we were working toward the end.
I had been told this would be the final pickup for us, and I campaigned for an additional six episodes on the end of the season in order to wrap up the story--this became the Era 3 arc.
Navigating a cosmos of relationships was a lot for a young person like Steven as he attempted to find the good in everyone and hook that connection that would allow positive change to blossom in the minds of others. His powers were going to be put into the test in so many more ways as the series moved through this slate of episodes, building steam toward an interplanetary conflict.
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