In a March 2021 Vanity Fair interview, Sugar said that she was encouraged by the "creative team to put their own life experiences into the character of Marceline," but when this led to a "romantic storyline between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum", Cartoon Network executives intervened. This moment led Sugar and the rest of the show's team to see the limit of what they could accomplish, in terms of representation. The writers initially responded to this roadblock by working queer themes into episodes as subtext to avoid controversy or network censorship, but later episodes would openly expand on these themes, bringing them to the forefront of the series' plot.
According to a March 2021 Vanity Fair interview, Sugar mentioned that she was encouraged by the "creative team to infuse Marceline with her own life experiences," but when this led to a romantic relationship between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum, Cartoon Network executives stepped in. This incident made Sugar and the rest of the show's team aware of the limitations they faced in terms of representation. Initially, the writers addressed this obstacle by incorporating queer themes into episodes as subtle undertones to avoid controversy or network censorship, but later episodes would explicitly tackle these themes, making them a central part of the series' narrative.