On the 4th of October earlier this year, the writer, executive producer, and creator of The Owl House, Dana Terrace announced on Reddit why the third season of The Owl House was shortened and the show canceled.
The third season of The Owl House, or TOH, will consist of three specials as opposed to seasons one and two. Season one has nineteen episodes, and two has ten with the other half of the season releasing later. The specials will be about forty-four minutes long rather than the usual twenty-two minutes. Season three of The Owl House is expected to air on Disney Channel sometime in 2022 and was confirmed to be the show’s final season. Terrace confirmed earlier this year that this was going to happen, but never explained why until recently. She explained that The Owl House “Didn’t fit into Disney’s brand”. Many fans are still upset even though Terrace explained everything.
Some people believe that if The Owl House aired on a different streaming service, the show could have thrived even more than it already has. The statement also left some people to wonder, what fits into the Disney brand if The Owl House doesn’t.
Of course, fans were theorizing why the show was canceled. One theory was that the show got canceled because it got negative backlash from the main character, Luz Noceda voiced by Sarah-Nicole Roberts, being bisexual and many other side characters being LGBTQIA+. Contrary to popular belief, The Owl House was not canceled because of the low budget due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show also definitely wasn’t canceled due to bad ratings,
The Owl House has a large fanbase, has a rating of 8.2/10 on IMDb, and was in the top five of most successful animated series on Disney channel. Instead, Terrace announced that the show was canceled for the following “SO WHAT WAS IT?! At the end of the day, there are a few business people who oversee what fits into the Disney brand and one day one of those guys decided TOH didn’t fit that ‘brand’. The story is serialized (BARELY compared to any average anime lmao), our audience skews older, and that just didn’t fit this one guy’s tastes. That’s it! Ain’t that wild? Really grinds my guts, boils my brain, kicks my shins, all the things. It sucks but it is what it is.”
Although Terrace’s news brought some closure to fans, many people thought it was odd that the show was canceled because of an older audience. The show is still family-friendly and aimed towards younger viewers. Several fans also argue that Disney shows and other animation shows and movies are not just for children, animation is something people of all ages can enjoy. However, there is one possible role in the show’s cancellation and why other Disney shows with older viewers weren’t canceled. That is on what streaming service which The Owl House aired.
The Owl House aired on Disney channel. The streaming network has a target audience of children of ages six to eleven. If The Owl House aired on Disney+ however, the show could have been saved. Disney+ has shows that have a higher audience rating and have content for all ages. There is a big difference between The Owl House and other Disney shows that are viewed by more mature audiences, and that is that most of these shows are spin-offs of an already incredibly successful saga. Some of these shows include Star Wars: The Bad Batch and What If…? from Marvel. The Owl House, on the other hand, is a new, original animated series. Stand-alone series are significantly easier to cancel because they are not a part of a larger, more popular franchise. Had The Owl House been released Disney+, the show just might have survived. We can see that other original shows, short films, and movies that are or will air on Disney+ are not being canceled. For example, Iwájú, an African science fiction television series coming out next year on Disney+. It is, however, unfortunate that The Owl House just might have been saved had the show been pitched just a little later.
As previously stated, fans of The Owl House were a little skeptical about why the show was canceled. The show was canceled because The Owl House has an older, more mature audience. However, many other Disney shows have more mature audiences have been running for years that will not be canceled anytime soon. Some shows like that include Disney+ shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Stories. Although an argument can be made that those shows were on Disney+ and not Disney channel as stated before. There are also other shows on Disney channel that are alive and thriving. For example, Amphibia is also a popular show on Disney channel. Amphibia currently has three seasons and 45 episodes and has about as mature an audience as The Owl House. The season finale of season 2 has a warning at the beginning of the episode that some scenes might be too intense for younger viewers. This warning is there for many reasons. There are scenes with fighting sequences, near-death of characters, and most of all, at the very end of the episode, a 13-year-old girl was stabbed on screen. No blood is shown, but the scene is still quite intense. Amphibia, of course, is currently still airing and is streaming season 3. While The Owl House has never had anything that graphic or violent happen or mentioned anywhere in the show. Still, Amphibia, and many other shows like it, fits Disney’s brand, and The Owl House doesn’t. As Terrace said, “It sucks but it is what it is.”
Ultimately, The Owl Houses fanbase is upset that the show will end prematurely. Several trends and hashtags have started on Twitter, Reddit, and other social media platforms to get the show more content. Unfortunately, for now, the show is canceled. However, Terrace said in her Reddit post that there is still a lot of content to look forward to and that The Owl House could have a future with different people in charge. The reason the show was canceled is a little short-sighted, as Disney’s brand is constantly growing along with Disney as a company. Terrace also said in the Reddit post that she wasn’t able to argue or speak on the matter and that she was just told about the decision, so we know she can’t do much about it, which is unfortunate. Many people still question Disney’s motives and reasoning and that The Owl House and shows like it are getting canceled for invalid reasons and the only compensation for the end of the show is Hot Topic merchandise. The Owl House will be missed by many, and the show was great while it was there, but maybe the show could go on. Terrace said in several social media posts that the trends and hashtags do not go unnoticed by Disney’s executives. The Owl House, in the future, could be saved.
