Sometime during the 5th season of Adventure Time, Ward abruptly stepped down from running the show, explaining it was negatively affecting his "quality of life". In the October 2, 2014 edition of the Rolling Stone magazine, Ward stated "I quit because it was driving me nuts". However, he continued to work as one of the show's Writers and storyboard artists until the end of the season six, and he still serves as an executive Producer. In an interview with Indiewire prior to the debut of season seven, head Writer Kent Osborne noted that Ward had stopped writing episode outlines at the beginning of season 7 but still looks over them and provides input, as he is focusing on an Adventure Time movie.