Spoilers for the bonus Bluey episode “Surprise.”
Surprise! Just when we thought the third season of Bluey was over with “The Sign”, and that we’d have an indefinite wait time for the next season, a new episode dropped on Sunday. The episode, appropriately titled “Surprise,” is back to the regular Bluey format of a seven-minute runtime featuring shenanigans between Bluey, Bingo, and Bandit that end in a sweet little lesson. And even though the creators reassured fans last week that they still had plenty of stories left to tell, people still freaked out a little at the ending of “Surprise.” The episode centered around what it’s like being a parent and ends with a flash forward, revealing Bluey’s future child.
What happens: Having decided to stay put at their home on the hill, the Heeler family is back to their normal shenanigans for the bulk of “Surprise.” While Chilli cleans, Bandit, who only wants to watch a race on television, finds himself juggling playing two different games with daughters Bluey and Bingo. While Bandit babysits Bingo’s pretend babies, he also has to fend off Bluey, who keeps surprising her dad with attacks with a ball blaster.
More than one surprise: The episode itself may have been unanticipated, but the real surprise comes at the end in a time jump when Bluey, now a full-grown adult, visits her parents who still live at her childhood home. And waiting in ambush for Bandit behind the door armed with a ball blaster? Bluey’s future child.
Fans are worried that this is really the end: In an episode that began with Bluey asking her mother what it’s like to have children, the full-circle moment that punctuated the episode’s climax left many fans wondering if what they had just watched was not a season finale, but a series finale. “For a show that isn’t ending, the last two eps sure FELT like a series finale + epilogue,” one fan wrote on social media site X.
What comes next: A spokeswoman for Disney+ declined to respond Monday to USA TODAY’s request for comment, while Brisbane, Australia-based Ludo Studio, which produces the series, could not immediately be reached. But producers of the series beloved by parents and children alike have in the past insisted that Bluey’s adventures are far from concluded. After “The Sign” debuted, “Bluey” executive producer Daley Pearson told the Los Angeles Times that the episode was a test to see how audiences respond to a longer format of the show, which debuted in 2019. He even hinted that a feature film could be on the horizon. “We have more in store and we are thinking what would be next,” “Bluey” producer Sam Moore told BBC. “I’m sure we have many more surprises in store for you.”
I thought “Surprise” was really cute! I know this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an aged Bluey – we saw teenaged Bluey revisit the tree she and Jean Luc planted in Season 1’s “Camping” – but I can see why the full circle aspect of this episode, including the Granny Chili’s callback to the events of “The Sign,” would make people worry that it was a series finale. My son has a theory that we’re actually getting two more Bluey eps. As he pointed out, the first two seasons each had 52 episodes and “Surprise” is only episode 50 of S3. Technically, “The Sign” had the runtime of three episodes combined, which puts us at the same total hours of runtime, but maybe he’s onto something. We’ll find out next Sunday if his theory is correct.