The Owl House turns out to be too good for Disney

The Owl HouseThe last few episodes have shown the series at its best. As brave misfit Luz searches for a way home and also tries to unravel the plans of the almighty Emperor Belos, she grapples with her own feelings of being torn between two worlds. It’s the perfect blend of world-building backstory and character-driven time-out to balance the overarching storyline.

But even though the show was at its best, the fact that the final two episodes had a back-to-back slew of big reveals is frustratingly bittersweet. With just four episodes left this season — and just a tiny abridged third season on the horizon — it’s clear that creator Dana Terrace and the rest of The Owl House Team work within the framework given to them. It’s still deeply satisfying, but the show and the team behind it deserve more.

[Ed. note: This article contains major spoilers for the most recent episodes of The Owl House.]

In “Hollow Mind” Luz and Hunter (Zeno Robinson) – the dutiful nephew of Emperor Belos – find themselves trapped in the mind of Belos. While trying to escape, Luz also decides to explore his memories and find out his motivations, while Hunter passionately insists that Belos has a good heart. They come across a small, childlike Belos, whom Luz initially wants to protect. But as they delve deeper into Belos’ dark and twisted mind, it becomes clear that his true intentions are evil – he’s actually a human witch hunter, the same human Luz traveled back in time to find in hopes that he could lead her home. Working with a shady spirit known as the Collector, Belos somehow survived for hundreds of years to carry out his master plan to murder all witches and demons on the Boiling Isles. And to top it off, Hunter isn’t actually his nephew, but something he refers to as the “Grimwalker,” who showed up as one of Belos’ first companions all those years ago.

As if that wasn’t enough, in the very next episode, Luz and baby demon King (Alex Hirsch) make their way to a remote part of the Boiling Isles, where they meet a remote clan of titan hunters who are convinced that King one of them is a long-lost descendant. As it turns out, King isn’t a titan hunter – he’s actually the last titan, the huge, terrifying demonic creatures that roamed the Boiling Isles centuries ago, creatures that the aforementioned collector hopes to eliminate. It happens in quick succession, but each of the revelations has been carefully seeded beforehand. The King’s revelation builds on previous instances where we’ve seen him searching for his family, while the true nature of Belos and Hunter was hinted at by their inability to use magic traditionally.

But with only a handful of episodes left this season — and only an abridged season 3 after this one — it seems nigh on impossible to wrap them all up. Terrace and the rest of the crew have already braved the odds and created an enjoyable and interesting narrative despite the limited scope they have been given; They have proven that they can pull off the unbelievable and can probably lead the needle to a satisfying ending. And yet it could also be so much more

Disney didn’t decide to smash the show before it even got a chance.

In general, Disney Channel animated shows run for fewer seasons compared to other network counterparts. Take adventure time and Steven universewhich grossed 283 and 160 episodes respectively (excluding their respective spinoff series), and compare them to popular Disney Channel shows like gravity falls (41 episodes) and Star against the forces of evil (77 episodes). That’s not to say you can’t make a satisfying animated series with fewer episodes; It can be done, and certainly these two Disney Channel examples already speak for it. But it makes it clear The Owl House was already working under a more reticent storytelling license — made even shorter by the fact that there won’t be a full third season.

Terrace previously offered a glimpse into why The Owl House wasn’t renewed for a full third season, which boiled down to a frustratingly simple reason unrelated to reviews (all good) or viewership (equally good): someone decided the show didn’t fit Disney’s brand.

“At the end of the day, there are a couple of business people who oversee what fits the Disney brand, and one day one of those guys decided TOH didn’t fit that brand,” Terrace wrote in a Reddit AMA thread

. “The story is serialized (hardly compared to your average anime lmao), our audience is older and it just didn’t suit this one guy’s tastes. That’s it! Isn’t that wild? Really grinds my guts, boils my brains, kicks my shins, all that stuff. It sucks, but it is what it is.”

A late show reveal like pull off Steven universe did in its last season is not only thanks to the hard work of the creative people involved; There were certainly moments along the way when it looked like it Steven universe might not get the chance to tell his full story. But it takes the network giving the show a chance to even get to that point. The Owl HouseThe latest revelations from are amazing – but imagine how they could have been with a little more time to stew. Hunter, for example, wasn’t really introduced until this season, and the reveal of what he really is comes in between other big reveals about Belos. It still works – it works very well – but it’s just hard to shake the fact that Disney doesn’t want it to work at all.

The Owl House is brilliant. It’s sharp and funny, with impressive worlds and compelling characters. It’s funny and heartfelt and beautifully animated. It has garnered a passionate fan base and rave reviews, and has become a milestone in LGBTQ representation in animation for all ages. It’s more mature than the average Disney Channel animated series, and for the better. And if Disney had just a little bit more trust (trust and pixie dust etc etc) then it would The Owl House could have the time it deserves.

The first season of The Owl House, and episodes 1 through 16 of Season 2 are available on Disney Plus. New episodes premiere Saturdays at 9 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel.