User blog comment:Thailog/Ep. 203 "Alienated" discussion/@comment-175.137.235.119-20120515080023/@comment-5072738-20120516002810

My guess is that the time skip is their safety net so that if the creator run out of ideas they can just start a series that takes place during the five years. It gives them something to fall back on if they have writer's block or something...