‘Gravity Falls’ Alex Hirsch Previews Season’s Return: “All Will Be Revealed”

Reunited, but will it actually feel good? The mid-season finale of Gravity Falls ended on a cliffhanger which saw the return of Grunkle Stan’s twin brother (and the mysterious author of Dipper’s journals). Though this means fans might finally get some answers when the show returns with a new episode this Monday, the video preview shown at the Gravity Falls Comic-Con panel hints that this is just the beginning of the show’s larger mysteries.

In anticipation of Monday’s big episodes, we caught up with Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch to talk the twins’ reactions, plotting mysteries and obviously, the brotherly reunion.

What can we expect in these next few episodes?
Unfortunately, if I tell you what happens in the next half of the season, Mickey Mouse will kidnap me and throw me off a bridge. It’s in my contract! That being said, I can say that I’m very excited about what’s coming in Season 2B – higher stakes, stranger creatures and mysteries that affect the entire town. We also have amazing guest voices coming, including Jonathan Banks in a cameo as Grunkle Stan’s dad, “Weird Al” Yankovic as a lunatic wizard and Chelsea Peretti playing a character that will give people literal nightmares. Get hyped!

What does having his brother back mean for Stan?
Sunshine, rainbows, giggles and hugs! Well… Not exactly.  Stan has a complicated relationship with his brother, and after “Not What He Seems” it’s only going to get more complicated. (Family reunions are tense enough without having inter-dimensional portals and 30-year secrets thrown into the mix!) I can say that Stan has been working towards this moment for a very long time, playing it through in his head, planning it and imagining it. But as any fan will tell you, Stan’s plans rarely go the way he hopes. Plus, when your brother is voiced by J.K. Simmons, you know you’re going to be in for a bumpy ride.

How will discovering that Stan has a twin affect the twins?
This is a bombshell revelation for Dipper and Mabel. They’ve always thought of their uncle as a weird loner with no attachments to friends or family so to speak of, so learning that he has a twin—one that he cares about no less—deeply changes their understanding of him. On the one hand learning about Stan’s family humanizes him, but on the other hand his backstory will give them a glimpse of Stan’s past mistakes, not to mention showing them the scope of his deception. Stan’s family and motives will all be revealed in “A Tale of Two Stans.”

Soos has always seen Grunkle Stan as a father figure. How will finding out that Stan’s had this big secret affect him?
Soos doesn’t have the strongest grip on reality, so discovering that Mr. Pines has a magical stargate in his basement more or less sits in the realm of what Soos already deems plausible. That being said, Soos has always trusted Stan, and the events of “Not What He Seems” have shaken that trust. In the upcoming episode, Grunkle Stan has a lot of explaining to do if he ever wants his family to trust him again.

The fans of Gravity Falls really pay attention to and analyze the show for clues. Do you feel any pressure when it comes to crafting the show’s mysteries—at least in terms of staying ahead of the audience?
Staying ahead of the audience is important, but not as important as satisfying them. A lot of mystery writers throw in totally insane, unguessable left-field twists in their stories to try to look smart, but as an audience I feel cheated if there isn’t some logical—and more importantly emotional—rationale for the trajectory of a story’s turns. The arrival of Stan’s brother may seem surprising to the casual viewer, but there have actually been TONS of clues and hints sprinkled since the very first episode of the series, both in the text of the show and the subtext. We hide clues and foreshadowing in the series because we want our audience to be able to guess the answers if they’re persistent enough. That’s where the satisfaction comes in. We’re not making this up as we go along. We’ve always had a plan. So for fans who are as persistent and clever as Dipper, the answers can be uncovered.

Gravity Falls returns with “A Tale of Two Stans” at 8:30PM ET on July 13 on Disney XD.