Dana Terrace, the creator of The Owl House, clarified why Disney decided to cut the animated series short during its third season.
In a statement posted to Reddit, Terrace explained that the show's cancellation wasn't due to ratings or the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but whether or not the series fit into Disney's brand. "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 [The Owl House] didn't fit that 'brand,'" Terrace wrote. "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."
Terrace also addressed concerns over whether the series was canceled due to its LGBTQ+ representation, to which she explained that while there were issues with the show airing in certain countries, she wouldn't "assume bad faith against the people I work with in LA." While the ongoing pandemic forced nearly every Disney show to "tighten their belts," with episodes cut and budgets constrained across the board, The Owl House "took the biggest bullet and I wasn't given the option of a 'season 4 when parks open again,'" according to Terrace.
"They just wanted to be done with TOH and this was the perfect chance to do that. Even getting the consolation s3 episodes was difficult, apparently. Hard to say, I wasn't allowed to be a part of any conversations until I was just... Told. Wasn't even allowed to present my case," said Terrace.
Disney Channel ordered a shortened third season of the animated series, announcing in May 2021 that the season would consist of three 44-minute specials. Terrace also wrote in her statement that the decision to end The Owl House after Season 3 was made before the end of the show's first season. "Our ratings were GOOD (for a Channel show during the streaming wars lmao) but they were also incomplete," Terrace said. "This decision was made, to my knowledge, before [Season 1, Episode 18, "Agony of a Witch"] premiered and WELL before we were on Disney +."
The Owl House was recently awarded a Peabody for "building a wildly inventive other world that makes room for everyone and giving queer kids a welcome template alongside which to explore their own budding creative energies." The series has been commemorated for its LGBTQ+ representation from Disney Channel and other animators alike, including Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch, who congratulated Terrace for telling the LGBTQ+ story he could not.
"In any case, there are still a lot of awesome TOH episodes left to come out, and all the support IS seen and appreciated," Terrace concluded. "Not only does it support the crew but it encourages studios to take bigger risks on shows coming down the pipeline. And, who knows? Maybe there's a future for the Owl House world if DTV has different people in charge."
Season 2 of The Owl House is now available to watch in full on Disney+ and DisneyNOW, with Season 3 set to premiere sometime in 2022.
Source: Reddit