In 2020, The Owl House debuted and the magical cartoon was a game-changer for Disney and its creator, Dana Terrace -- who fought for queer representation in the series. Terrace's work has more than paid off. Along with including queer characters upfront, The Owl House won a Peabody for "a wildly inventive other world that makes room for everyone and give[es] queer kids a welcome template alongside which to explore their own budding creative energies."
Along with creating a world welcoming queer characters and fans, The Owl House animated series is all about inclusively celebrating and accepting others from different backgrounds. In honor of this major achievement, Cissy Jones, who voices Lilith in the Disney series, sat with CBR for an exclusive interview. After Season 1, Lilith has been stripped of her rank and power in favor of standing by her sister, Eda, so now she must go on her own journey of exploration and self-discovery alongside Luz, Eda and co. Jones gave CBR a sneak peek into that upcoming adventure while also explaining the larger significance of The Owl House.
CBR: First thing I want to jump into is what drew you to The Owl House when it came to joining the show?
Cissy Jones: I mean, as most things are, it was an audition process, right? So I got the audition in like 2018 for Lilith, and there was just something about her that I was like, "Oh, I really like this character." I really want to have some fun with her because they had mentioned that she dyed her hair black, but she was normally a redhead, and so I knew that there was kind of this air of like trying to be scarier than she really was, and there was just something I really loved about that vulnerability, even in the auditions. We don't often get that much detail about a character.
I just knew she was awesome, and so did the audition, and then I had a callback and I got to meet Dana and some of the other writers. Rachel Vine was a friend of mine, a story editor on the first season and I just jumped in with both feet first. I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait to get this character going.
And we see with The Owl House, it's such a rich, magical world and through your character, Lilith, we see a different side of that world since we're first introduced to Eda, and these two couldn't be more different. What's been your favorite part about exploring the magical world of The Owl House through Lilith's eyes?
I love that she tried so hard to be the good girl, to do everything by the book, and be the favorite student and all of that and then realized that there's some magic that's more powerful than authority. You know what I mean? Like the magic between sisters I think is always going to be bigger and more special than anything else, and as cheesy as that sounds, that's what I really cling to is that sisters are forever and being able to jump onto that has been really fun.
Speaking of that sisterly relationship, what's been your favorite thing to explore between Eda and Lilith? And what makes Lilith such a good foil for Eda?
Honestly, I've loved Season 2, and I can say as much so far without spoiling anything, but getting to explore the non-antagonistic side of them and see kind of their childish ways come back out. We saw a bit of that in Season 1 when Eda was the owl, and she was making faces at Lilith, and [saying], "I will not fall prey to your childish games." Just that kind of like silliness that they have between them I think is so sweet and so much fun, and we get a lot more of that in Season 2, which I'm really excited about.
I'm super excited about Season 2, and already from the episodes that are out, we see that not only are we getting a little bit more of Eda and Lilith, but we're getting a little bit more of Luz and Lilith. What about that dynamic excites you now that these two can spend a little bit more time together?
I love it. In the entirety of Season 1, Lilith spends her time looking down her nose at humans. Humans are kind of gross and disgusting, and I don't even think she calls Luz by her name. It's just human, so now having her be an integral part of the family and the coven, as it were, I think it's really fun to see her experience the joy that Luz brings to every situation because Luz is such a joyful character. In every situation, even if it's danger or mayhem or trouble, she's always finding joy and bringing smiles and happiness to a situation. So, Lilith is doing a complete 180 of that, from, "I'm better than everything," and, "Oh dear God, don't let anything get out of control," to, "Okay, maybe there is a little joy in madness." Yeah, it's really fun. It's just really fun to do that full swing as a character.
And speaking about the covens, as well as how Lilith is now saying, like, "Hey, there's fun in this wild magic," a big thing we saw was with the Emperor's Coven and with Lilith early on is this push for conformity, and now that's kind of been taken away from her. What's it like to explore that with Lilith? And what's been the biggest challenge bringing that to life with your character?
It's really interesting. Dana told me early on -- Dana is the show creator -- she said Lilith is gonna have some heavy emotional lifting. You're really going to have to dig in deep because she's going to go from being the most powerful witch, aside from the Emperor, on the Boiling Isles to having no magic, which completely strips her identity from her. So it's been a complete crisis of conscience for her, even in those first two episodes in Season 2, let alone where it goes, which I can't say anything about. But it's been really, really fun and interesting to explore a person's loss of self, and how that will affect her going forward, and how she'll adapt to it and what she'll do to re-imagine herself.
Right, and one thing I want to touch on is that first of all, congratulations to you and the show for the Peabody, which is absolutely amazing, and so I was wondering, along with exploring this magical world, The Owl House is a very inclusive show in terms of LGBTQ representation and just characters of different backgrounds. How do you think the show lends itself to facilitating such a inclusive environment?
I love it so much. I really do. And the fan reaction to seeing themselves portrayed on screen, because it's not only racial diversity and sexual diversity, sexual orientation diversity, but it's also neurodiversity. It's been really, really special, you know. I don't know that I've seen anything else like it, and the way that it's been embraced has been so incredible.
I think because it is this magical new world, kind of the sky's the limit, right? Like, there is no set you must be this or that. There are no boxes for people to be shoved into, and so an ability to blast it wide open and explore and see what works.
Along with having these overt characters of different racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender and so on, how do you think the themes of the show, which deal with wildness, conforming and so on, lend themselves to kind of further push that inclusivity that we see in The Owl House?
I think it's a perfect correlation because I don't know about when you were growing up, when I was growing up, it was you are gay or you are straight, and there was nothing in between. And, you know, now we're seeing more things on screen to kind of show what's available and what's out there and that it's not just black or white. There's all manner of gray in between. And so The Owl House is able to really go in and explore all of these different things, and because it's not tied specifically to a term, I feel like the allegories are endless, and it just gives such a great space for acceptance and exploration, which I think is just remarkable.
Growing up, I have not seen anything like this, and this is something that I would have absolutely loved to have as a kid who does not fall in that binary that you're mentioning. I know for a lot of my friends as well who happened to identify neurodiverse, as well as LGBTQ, that this is something that they've been looking forward to. So I was wondering for you, how do you hope other programs can carry on this trend? What do you hope to see in future animation or even shows that The Owl House has really kind of pushed forward?
I am really loving the latest crop of things coming out, including The Owl House and Amphibia and other shows that are pushing the boundaries of what is normative, what is considered to be normal. What does a girl normally do? What does a boy normally do and breaking that?
I have young kids and being able to show them that you don't have to be that, you can be any of this, and it's still fun, and it's still great, and there's still adventure and joy to be had. You're starting to see a lot more of it. I mean, even with the Pixar movie that just came out, right? Luca? It's not so shoved in the box. There's so much out there to explore, and I feel like people are more and more willing to have those options now.
I completely agree with you, and with The Owl House currently in its second season -- without going too much into spoilers -- how does this season differ from Season 1 for you?
It's a 180 to go from being the villain, actually, the one who's always trying to capture Eda and make her conform to be what I want her to be, to losing everything and having to re-establish what I myself am, what Lilith herself is, you know? It's learning a different magic and learning how to love things that you didn't used to love before, like humans and little demons and reconciling a difficult past with a hopeful future. I think that's something that we can all identify with in some way, shape or form.
And so to go from having, "cancel Lilith" be the thing on Twitter one week to like, "Oh my god, I love her. She's so cute," it's been great. And fan reaction has just been incredible with her. I'm blown away every day at the fan art and the love on Twitter and the cosplay. It's just been incredible. I think it's only gonna get more so as Season 2 goes on. That's all I can say.
Speaking of those fan reactions, what do you hope audiences take away from Season 2?
That family dynamics are messy, and they're worth it, as long as there's mutual respect and love and admiration. That isn't always the case, but relationships, human/witch relationships are messy and beautiful. And weirdos have to stick together. I think that's always been the theme of the show. Right? Us weirdos have to stick together, and what better way to show that then by reinventing yourselves and going on new fun journeys together.
Wrapping this up, why is The Owl House such an important show for you?
Why is it such an important show? How do I even begin that? Not only is it kind of my largest animation role to date, but the love I have for Lilith in my heart, which sounds so cheesy, but it's so true. She's just... We've all been through stuff, right? We've all been through a thing that maybe we regretted or we wished we handled differently, and to be able to go on that journey with a character who is in these fantastic situations and these magical places, to be able to go on that journey and kind of work through it in my own head -- things that I wish I had maybe done differently or reigniting the relationships in my life that means a lot to me -- it's an interesting corollary, right to go through this whole thing together and it's just fun.
I love the people that work on the show. Dana is incredibly talented. [Sarah-Nicole] Robles, who plays Luz is super fun. We just had a big signing last weekend and we raised almost $20,000 for charity. It's just the involvement of everybody is just so special and so incredible. I have rarely had anything be this loud. People getting excited about it. It's just been really, really cool.
Created by Dana Terrace, The Owl House stars Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz, Wendie Malick as Eda, Alex Hirsch as King, Cissy Jones as Lilith, Tati Gabrielle as Willow, Issac Ryan Brown as Gus, Mae Whitman as Amity, Parvesh Cheena as Tibbles, Eden Riegel as Boscha and Bumper Robinson as Principal Bump. Season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+, and new episodes air Saturdays at 10 a.m. on Disney Channel.