It follows the adventures of Finn, a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape and size at will.

The season was storyboarded and written by Tom Herpich, Steve Wolfhard, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Jesse Moynihan, Adam Muto, Ako Castuera, Sam Alden, Kirsten Lepore, Andres Salaff, Hanna K. Nyström, Luke Pearson, Lyle Partridge, Kris Mukai, Graham Falk, and Kent Osborne.

At the same event, Herpich and Jason Kolowski each won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation, for their work on "Stakes Part 8: The Dark Cloud" and "Bad Jubies", respectively.

Common storylines revolve around Finn and Jake discovering strange creatures, dealing with the antagonistic but misunderstood Ice King, and battling monsters in order to help others.

[1] Multi-episode story arcs for this season include Bubblegum adjusting to life in exile and eventually reclaiming the Candy Kingdom crown,[2][3] and Marceline coming to terms with her vampiric nature.

"[11] The network then began counting the remaining 13 episodes (which included "Broke His Crown" through "Reboot") as making up the first portion of season eight, despite their having been produced as part of the seventh.

[20] There was a sneak peek of "Bad Jubies" at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 19, 2015, several months before the season's premiere.

[21] Storyboard artists for the season included Herpich, Wolfhard, Seo Kim, Somvilay Xayaphone, Jesse Moynihan, Muto, Ako Castuera, Sam Alden, Andres Salaff, Hanna K. Nyström, Luke Pearson, Lyle Partridge, Kris Mukai, Graham Falk, and Kent Osborne.

[30][31][32] Cartoon Network was encouraged to greenlight the miniseries after the success of the 2014 event series Over the Garden Wall, which was created by Pat McHale, the former creative director of Adventure Time.

[33] The eight-episode miniseries, entitled Stakes,[34] follows Finn and Jake as they face a new threat brought about when one of Princess Bubblegum's science projects unleashes the ghosts of Marceline's past.

[30] Former storyboard artist Rebecca Sugar returned to write a new song for the miniseries (entitled "Everything Stays") and to voice Marceline's mother.

[34][35] The voice actors for the season included: Jeremy Shada (Finn the Human), John DiMaggio (Jake the Dog), Tom Kenny (The Ice King), Hynden Walch (Princess Bubblegum), and Olivia Olson (Marceline the Vampire Queen).

Former storyboard artist Niki Yang voices the sentient video game console BMO in English, as well as Jake's girlfriend Lady Rainicorn in Korean.

[46] Anne Heche returned to voice the titular character in "Cherry Cream Soda", and storyline writer Jack Pendarvis reprised his role as Root Beer Guy.

[63] "Crossover" features Kumail Nanjiani and James Kyson reprising their roles of Prismo and Big Destiny, respectively; Lou Ferrigno appears in the same episode, playing Bobby, an alternate universe variant of the hero Billy.

[65] Tunde Adebimpe, the lead singer from the band TV on the Radio, appears in "The Thin Yellow Line", voicing Banana Guard 16.

[66] Various other characters are voiced by Tom Kenny, Dee Bradley Baker, Maria Bamford, Steve Little, Kent Osborne, and Melissa Villaseñor.

This episode was viewed by 1.07 million viewers and scored a 0.3 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic—meaning that it was seen by 0.3 percent of all households aged 18–49 who were watching television at the time.

[75] During the week that Stakes aired, Adventure Time was able to hold a 0.4 Nielsen rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and attain viewership numbers over 1.7 million for each episode.

[88] Herpich and Jason Kolowski each won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation, for their work on "Stakes Part 8: The Dark Cloud" and "Bad Jubies", respectively.