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A post shared by We Bare Bears (@webarebears.official) on Jun 27, 2020 at 9:48am PDT

MANILA -- The time has come to say goodbye to bear brothers Grizz, Ice and Panda.

After four seasons of the beloved cartoon series, creator Daniel Chong is ending “We Bare Bears” with a movie that he promises to be equally enjoyable.

“We finished in March. The day that we were supposed to finish the movie was the day before we went into quarantine. Essentially, if I didn’t finish it on the day that we finished it, there won’t be a movie. It is a bit of luck that we finished,” Chong shared in a roundtable virtual interview on Wednesday.

While the three lead bears have starred in funny, wholesome and heartwarming episodes through the years, Chong revealed that “We Bare Bears” was actually conceived because of his personal experiences as a minority living in America.

“It was my feeling of what it was like to be an outsider and trying to fit in and find my place in the world. I think the bears wanted the same,” he said.

Without giving away too much, Chong said this is actually the central theme of the upcoming movie.

“The movie is kind of about what happens when somebody tells you ‘You don’t belong here and you need to leave and they get chased out.’ There’s just a level of intolerance that comes with that,” he added.

Based on the film’s trailer, the movie follows the Grizz, Ice and Panda’s new adventure as wildlife control Agent Trout does everything in his power to capture, detain and separate them thinking they could never exist in harmony because they are different from each other.

To escape Agent Trout, the bear brothers decide to go to Canada thinking it will be more peaceful for them to live there. Agent Trout, however, follows them wherever they go as he is very determined to tear them apart.

“Surely, inequality and intolerance are still issues that would not go away. For us, the movie was really about showing how did the bears battle this intolerance. How did they make the world right,” teased Chong.

As to how he came up with bear characters, Chong said it started when he was having fun doodling and trying to make a child laugh.

“When I created the show, I was just in a library with my girlfriend’s niece who’s six years old. I was just drawing to make her laugh. For some reason, three bears are what came out of my hand and my head. She found it funny. Soon enough, I have these three bears stacking up each other and that was that. It wasn’t a very premeditated idea,” he said.

Luckily for him, he’s worked as a storyboard artist for years and that played a major role when he finally decided to “make my own thing.”

“I was basically taking scripts and turning them into storyboards. I think I was getting frustrated. I was really lucky to get to work on some great projects but I also really wanted to make my own thing. I knew I had something to say that I wanted to put out in the world. So I decided that I think what I want to do is make my own TV show,” he said.

While it’s a cartoon, Chong revealed he never intended the show or the movie to be for any specific age.

“I was just trying to make something that I knew I would want to have seen when I was a kid. My writers and I, my team, we all just write it to make ourselves laugh,” he said. “We know the kids watch it but it is ideal that parents can also enjoy the movie. I think I always had it in my DNA to make things that hopefully will have a mass audience and will be able to appeal to different levels.”

Chong said he always feels flattered when parents come up to him to say that “We Bare Bears” is actually something they don’t mind watching with their kids.

Now that it is coming to an end, Chong was asked how he feels about saying goodbye to the beloved characters he created.

“It’s rough. Honestly, I will say that making the TV show, you really don’t have the time to reflect very much. You just go at full speed all day every day because the schedules are so hard and you’re just desperately trying to make sure that nobody is behind. Honestly, it’s only now that the movie is over that I can look back. It’s only really now it’s all kicking in,” he said.

Despite this, Chong said he is happy and he feels that the studio has made the right decision to end the story of the bear brothers with a film.

“I think there’s some poetry to this actually ending up [with a movie], being the last of it. Maybe what we did tie up was the thematic ideas of the TV show and that’s more important than anything else,” he said.

When asked if another season for the series would be possible in the future, Chong said: “I am touched that people still want to see the show to keep going. It is hard to look back and leave all that… but I felt I was also ready to move on.”

“There’s a spin-off and it’s in good hands. I’m still the executive producer on it but I also have moved on and I am working on a new project that I hope people will be excited about when it comes out. You also don’t want to overstay your welcome. I feel that the movie just put a really nice end to our show,” he added.

For the film, Eric Edelstein, Demetri Martin and Bobby Moynihan will return as the lovable bears, Marc Evan Jackson will play Agent Trout, while Jimmy O. Yang will give life to Joey Raccoon.

The movie will also feature recurring guest stars such as Cameron Esposito (as Ranger Dana Tabes), Ellie Kemper (as Lucy), Jason Lee (as Charlie), Patton Oswalt (as Nom Nom), Mel Rodriguez (as Darrell Zaragosa), and Charlyne Yi (as Chloe Park).

“We Bare Bears: The Movie” will premiere on September 12 in the Philippines.