Adventure Time: Side Quests Season 2 on Disney+: young Finn and Jake take 20 more odd jobs

Finn the Human has not saved the world yet. In Adventure Time: Side Quests he is a kid with a sword, a green backpack and a magical dog who acts like an older brother, and the jobs he takes are the small ones: favors and odd jobs across the Land of Ooo that tend to grow far bigger than anyone planned. The animated companion series, developed by Nate Cash for Cartoon Network Studios, now returns for a second season, with every new episode released at once on Disney+ and Hulu in the United States. Outside the US the show does not stream on Disney+ at all: Warner Bros. Discovery is launching it on its own Cartoon Network channels and on HBO Max.

The official synopsis for the new episodes reads like a list of chores gone wrong. Finn and Jake are back for “even more side quests across the wild, wonderful land of Ooo,” it says, which this time means wrestling toads, facing baby gladiators and “getting tangled up in one too many magic spells.” The promise is that no side quest is too strange, too small or too dangerous for the pair. The season’s poster makes the same joke visually, with Finn and Jake flying above the kingdom while treasure and medieval weapons spill out of Finn’s backpack.

Why the side quests are the point

The title borrows a video-game term for the optional missions a player takes on away from the main story, and that is exactly the format. Each episode is a self-contained story that can be watched in any order, built around young Finn, Jake and the early years of their friendship. It is a deliberate step back from the long, serialized arcs of the franchise’s recent spin-offs, Adventure Time: Distant Lands and the more adult Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, and a return to the lighter, standalone shape of the original show’s early seasons.

Warner Bros. Discovery is selling that choice to two audiences at once. “With its wit, originality and unpredictability, Adventure Time has always been quintessential Cartoon Network,” said Vanessa Brookman, the company’s general manager for international kids, animation and franchise. “In Side Quests, Nate and the team have crafted the perfect entry point for new audiences discovering the Land of Ooo for the first time, while offering a heartfelt love letter to fans who have been on the extraordinary journey from the very beginning.”

That double job explains the shape of the show. A child who has never heard of Ooo can start with any episode and follow it, because nothing depends on what came before. An adult who grew up with Finn gets familiar voices and a younger version of a hero they already know. The premise suggests the format is doing the work a pilot usually does: every episode is a possible first episode.

Who is back in the Land of Ooo

The voice cast is mostly the original one. John DiMaggio returns as Jake the Dog, Tom Kenny as the Ice King, Hynden Walch as Princess Bubblegum, Olisits at the center: Sasha Knight voices the younger Finn, a role Jeremy Shada played throughout the original series

Behind the scenes, Nate Cash serves as showrunner and executive producer, with Fred Seibert and Sam Register also executive producing and Victor Courtright as supervising director. Niki Yang directs episodes as well as voicing BMO, and the first season counted on two other familiar names in its writing credits: series creator Pendleton Ward, who co-wrote the episode “Rescue Princess” with Yang, and Jesse Moynihan. The opening theme is a reimagined version performed by The Moldy Peaches, and the score is by Matthew Janszen, who previously worked with Cash on Tiny Toons Looniversity.

Cash has described the production in terms long-time fans will recognize. “Making Side Quests felt like making the original Adventure Time, which felt like hanging out with art school buddies making professional cartoons,” he said. “That sounds like a big sandwich of feelings, and it was!”

A Cartoon Network show on Disney’s streamers

The most unusual thing about Side Quests may be where it lives. Adventure Time is one of Cartoon Network’s signature franchises, and its recent spin-offs streamed on Warner’s own service. Side Quests, by contrast, streams in the United States on Disney+ and Hulu, the two streaming services of rival Disney, while the rest of its rollout runs through Warner’s Cartoon Network channels and HBO Max. Meanwhile a separate series centered on Princess Bubblegum and Marceline is being developed for HBO Max.

The announcements did not detail the arrangement, so any reading of it is a reading. The split suggests a studio treating the US streaming window for its kids’ cartoons as something it can license out, while keeping the international brand, and the franchise’s next chapter, on platforms it owns. For viewers, the practical effect is simple: whether Finn’s new errands are a click away depends on which side of the US border you are on.

That leaves the question the format itself raises. Adventure Time grew up alongside its audience, moving from silly errands to stories about loss, memory and the end of the world. Side Quests goes back to the kid with the sword. Whether the small adventures can feel new again, and whether they are really for the children meeting Finn for the first time or for the adults who remember him, is something the synopsis cannot settle before the episodes are out.

When and where to watch Adventure Time: Side Quests Season 2

All 20 episodes of the second season are released on Friday, October 2 on Disney+ and Hulu in the United States, as a single binge drop. They arrive 95 days after the first season, which premiered on June 29 with 20 episodes of its own, bringing the series to 40 episodes. The first season holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from seven critics’ reviews.

Outside the United States, Adventure Time: Side Quests rolls out on Cartoon Network and HBO Max starting Monday, October 5. Availability and timing can vary by country, so check your local Cartoon Network schedule or the HBO Max catalog in your market.

Adventure Time: Side Quests Season 2: quick answers

Is Adventure Time: Side Quests a prequel or a reboot? It is a companion series set in the early years of the Adventure Time timeline, focused on Finn’s childhood and the start of his bond with Jake, told in standalone episodes.

How many episodes does Season 2 have? Twenty, all released at once, the same number as the first season.

Who voices Finn in Side Quests? Sasha Knight voices the younger Finn. John DiMaggio returns as Jake, with Tom Kenny, Hynden Walch, Oli

Can I watch it on Disney+ outside the US? No. Disney+ and Hulu carry the series in the United States only; internationally it goes to Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

Do I need to have seen the original Adventure Time? No. The episodes are self-contained and designed as an entry point for new viewers, and they can be watched in any order.