What are people’s thoughts on the timeskip [spoiler]? (s7 spoilers)

What are people’s thoughts on the timeskip implied between Arc 2 and 3?

In the finale of season 7 (Arc 2) Aaravos says that even if he’s “killed,” his stars will align in ~7 years and allow him to reincarnate on Earth. I’d guess this implies the hypothetical timeskip between Arcs 2 and 3 would be around six years, giving them at least several months of onscreen plot before Aaravos returns for the final confrontation.

But timeskips are risky because they need to have the audience be able to pick up with the characters where they left off, but simultaneously give the impression that the characters were busy with important things in their offscreen time. And we know the writers have struggled with this. I think season 4 was difficult because too many important character beats happened in the offscreen time jump but the writers felt they needed to get the plot underway when season 4 started and didn’t adequately address what happened in between.

The timeskip between Arc 2 and hypothetical Arc 3 would leave an even wider gap between us and the characters than in season 4. What do you think the writers would intend for them to do in this time? What plot points would be offscreen vs. judged important enough to show, and if they’re so important, what were the characters doing in those 6 years to prepare for them? How is the audience shown this? These are difficult questions, but ones the writers need to consider.

And in this timeskip, the characters will have needed to change, a lot. Arc 1-2 had a time jump, but the characters who were children and teens mostly remained children and teens. Now these characters will have grown to adults, without us seeing it. TDP has said they’ve intended to “grow with their audience,” but at the end of the day they remain a show made for children. Children’s shows can have adult protagonists, but they’d have to be written differently if the writers want the stories and characters to make sense. TDP has struggled in the past with balancing childish humor and tone with maturing characters and themes, and I can’t imagine this would be easier when the characters are adults.

How do you think the writers could best handle this if we do end up getting an Arc 3? I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this, thanks!