Will Gravity Falls Get a Season 3?

Gravity Falls’ villain Bill Cipher has characteristically sown chaos into the animated series’ fanbase in the wake of his haunted adult-themed tome The Book of Bill hitting bookstore shelves this July. The deluge of new Gravity Falls content over the summer, from thisisnotawebsitedotcom to the “How NOT to Draw Grunkle Stan” short, has stirred speculation about a third season or continuation of the show’s story. So, will Gravity Falls get a Season 3?

Is Gravity Falls Getting a Season 3?

A third season of Gravity Falls currently remains in the nebulous realm of fan speculation, with the series’ cipher-cracking and clue-hunting community proving as sleuthy as ever in their pursuit of irrefutable evidence. The ARG-esque thisisnotawebsitedotcom, discovered through a series of clues within The Book of Bill, primed Gravity Falls fans of the conspiratorial persuasion, especially with series creator Alex Hirsch egging them along with a string of fittingly cryptic social media threads. However, it was the Disney short “How NOT to Draw Grunkle Stan” where eagle-eyed audiences thought they found their first proof regarding the long-awaited Season 3.

As the Pines family’s triangular nemesis Bill Cipher threw his bag of tricks at the animator of “How NOT to Draw Grunkle Stan” a seemingly crucial detail about the artist’s workspace began to circulate on social media. The turnaround sheet depicting Dipper and Mabel’s great uncle was emblazoned with the text “Season 3”, sending fans into a frenzy. However, the Season 3 here likely refers specifically to the third season of the “How NOT to Draw” series of web shorts, which has featured Disney characters like Minnie Mouse and R2-D2 in its past installments. Despite the false alarm found within “How NOT to Draw Grunkle Stan”, hope for Gravity Falls Season 3 is not necessarily lost.

Disney Has Approached Alex Hirsch About Returning to Gravity Falls

Though neither Disney nor Hirsch has confirmed a third season of Gravity Falls, the rumors of a potential continuation possess a degree of substantiation beyond the realm of fan theory. A month prior to the release of The Book of Bill, Deadline reported that Disney had begun clearing a path for more Gravity Falls by entering preliminary Season 3 conversations with Hirsch. “Never say never,” mused Meredith Roberts, Executive Vice President of Television Animation and Disney Branded Television.

In the 12 years since Gravity Falls debuted, Hirsch has not shied away from criticizing Disney on social media, calling them out for nonsensical notes and their exclusion of LGBTQIA+ voices. For this reason, many fans had entirely counted out an on-screen return to the franchise despite Hirsch and Disney’s continued collaboration on books like Gravity Falls: Lost Legends. Though Disney sounds more open to returning to Gravity Falls than fans may have anticipated, Deadline did not delve into any tangible specifics about this June conversation between Hirsch and his former network.

Though it sounds as though Gravity Falls Season 3 was legitimately brought to the negotiating table, it’s possible that Hirsch has slightly different ideas for continuing the franchise. Whether more Gravity Falls content arrives in the form of a third season, more adult-oriented tie-ins like The Book of Bill, or something else entirely, its fair to assume that fans have not seen the last of the Pines family.