Adventure Time creator reveals how Super Smash Bros. inspired his new project

Pendleton Ward is best known for creating Adventure Time, but after leaving the show in the early 2010s, he’s kept a relatively low profile while contributing to the occasional intriguing project. Now, Ward has reunited with three of his former Adventure Time collaborators (Rebecca Sugar, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Patrick McHale) for a new animated project, The Elephant, which consists of three loosely connected shorts airing as a single, ad-free special on Adult Swim on Dec. 19. (It’ll be streaming on HBO Max the next day).