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.
In a March 2021 Vanity Fair interview, Sugar stated that she was inspired by the "creative team to incorporate her 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 prompted Sugar and the rest of the show's team to realize the boundaries of what they could achieve, in terms of representation. The writers initially responded to this roadblock by subtly integrating queer themes into episodes as subtext to avoid controversy or network censorship, but later episodes would openly explore these themes, bringing them to the forefront of the series' plot.