Olan Rogers confirmed that the series' cancellation was not due its viewership, but was instead a result of the recent merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery.
Was originally meant to be a 10-part hand-drawn series on Olan Rogers' YouTube channel under the name "Gary Space" in 2010. However, Rogers decided to reboot it as Final Space (2016) after three episodes. With help of Conan O'Brien's company Conaco, this pilot was successfully pitched and transformed into the full series Final Space (2018).
Based on the short video Final Space (2016) which was intended as the pilot for the full series. However, several aspects of the pilot were changed for the series: 'Gary Bisby' was renamed 'Gary Goodspeed'; most characters were re-designed (especially Quinn and Lord Commander), and some dropped altogether. Many of the roles in the pilot were recast for the series: while Olan Rogers and Coty Galloway retained their voice roles as Gary/Mooncake and Avocato respectively, David Tennant was cast as Lord Commander, a role Rogers had voiced in the pilot. Additionally, Fred Armisen was cast as KVN, a part originally voiced by Mitchell Davis, and Tom Kenny was as HUE, who Jake Sidwell voiced in the pilot.
The show bears a large similarity to Red Dwarf (1988), an earlier series about a man who ends up alone on a space ship as a result of punishment, his only companions a hologram version of his superior officer, a vain half-man, half-cat, an android he found on his travels and a computer whose job it is to control the ship. Furthermore, he spends all of his time pining for a female officer he barely knew in his past life.
Fox and Ash do the Fusion dance when they are introduced; an homage to Dragonball Z.