Don’t quote me on that but I’m pretty sure it originally didn’t have that ending planned and it was changed later at some point during writing. I’m trying to find anything on that but I’m failing to find it. I’m sure I’ve read some interview mentioning that years ago though.
“In the TV series, whether Gilbert lives or dies isn’t shown, but even if Violet were to never meet him again, she would live on,” he said. “Personally speaking, that’s the entirety of the story I intended to tell. So when talks of a sequel came up, I actually said that there was nothing else I wanted to do. But when I read the plot that the scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida wrote, it was so believable that I was spurred to action. I came to think that it was fine for Gilbert to live. This was a little less than two years ago.”
E2: But the novel finished years before that so I guess it was a set stone already. The anime supposedly changed lots compared to novel so maybe in novel it was smoother compared to anime that didn’t intend to include that ending.
Don’t quote me on that but I’m pretty sure it originally didn’t have that ending planned and it was changed later at some point during writing. I’m trying to find anything on that but I’m failing to find it. I’m sure I’ve read some interview mentioning that years ago though.
E: Wait? I think I found something? https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2020-10-12/violet-evergarden-director-discusses-his-initial-hesitation-about-creating-sequel-film/.165111
E2: But the novel finished years before that so I guess it was a set stone already. The anime supposedly changed lots compared to novel so maybe in novel it was smoother compared to anime that didn’t intend to include that ending.