The series involves an astronaut named Gary Goodspeed and his immensely powerful alien friend Mooncake, and focuses on their intergalactic adventures as they try to save the universe from certain doom.

[8][9] Gary Goodspeed is an energetic yet dim-witted astronaut who, in the midst of working off the last few days of his five-year sentence aboard the prison spacecraft Galaxy One, encounters a mysterious planet-destroying alien.

Olan Rogers uploaded the first episode of a planned ten-part animated web-series titled Gary Space to his personal Facebook channel.

[19] In early 2016, Rogers announced that his project had been retitled Final Space – to avoid similarities with Steven Universe[20] – and revealed screenshots of the short via a vlog on his YouTube channel.

Other members of O'Brien's company, Conaco (David Kissinger, Larry Sullivan and Jeff Ross), and members of New Form who executive produced the pilot short (Kathleen Grace, Melissa Schneider and Matt Hoklotubbe) joined as executive producers as well.

[citation needed] In July 2017, an additional cast list of Fred Armisen, Conan O'Brien, Keith David, Coty Galloway (reprising from the pilot), Tom Kenny, Caleb McLaughlin, John DiMaggio, Ron Perlman, Shannon Purser, Andy Richter, David Tennant, and Steven Yeun was revealed.

[29] Animation for the series is handled by ShadowMachine in Los Angeles and outsourced to Canadian studio Jam Filled using the Toon Boom Harmony software.

[32] On April 10, 2022, Rogers revealed on his Twitter that there is a chance that the show could be brought back in the future for an hour-long special to wrap up the story.

[8][9] When responding to a question on Twitter, Olan Rogers revealed that Final Space would be showcased by TBS at San Diego Comic-Con and VidCon in 2017.

TBS's sister network TNT aired a sneak peek premiere of the show on February 17, 2018, right after the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend.

The first season of Final Space received positive reviews,[51] with critics praising the show's cast (especially David Tennant's voice performance as the Lord Commander).

The site's critics' consensus reads: "Final Space doesn't always hit its mark, but for those looking for a bite-sized intergalactic comedy it may prove an amusing diversion.

[52] The Daily Beast received the series favorably, comparing its potential with Adventure Time and BoJack Horseman.

[58] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times praised the show for the space backgrounds and Gary's relationship with Mooncake, but criticized for being "not as clever as Futurama or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Galaxy Quest, series with which it shares certain features" and for the comedy which "leans toward things adolescent boys find funny".