Canceled Disney Show's World Expanding With New Book
Beloved Disney animated series The Owl House will end after Season 3 wraps up, but the story will [...]
Beloved Disney animated series The Owl House will end after Season 3 wraps up, but the story will reportedly go on in a new book. Online book retailers now have a pre-order page for a follow-up to The Owl House, published by Disney Books and Tokyo Pop. Showrunner Dana Terrace has apparently told fans on social media that the book will be a "light novel" — a young adult novel with manga-style illustrations.
Fans have been campaigning to save The Owl House from cancellation nonstop on social media, but so far Disney and Disney+ have not capitulated. In the meantime, fans felt some hope when Barnes & Noble created this pre-order page for an Owl House book, which has not yet been titled. The final cover and other details are still not available either, though a fan account called Disney TV Animation News on Twitter claims to have a scoop from Terrace saying it will be a "light novel." It will also reportedly be an original story, not a novelization retelling of familiar episodes from the TV series.
Ok update thanks to @DanaTerrace
The Owl House is getting a Light Book by @TOKYOPOP and @DisneyBooks
This book will be #TheOwlHouse's first original book it WON'T be a retelling of a episode, it seems that it will be a original storyhttps://t.co/9fVo4jzpi1
— Disney TV Animation News (@DisneyTVANews) July 10, 2021
Light novels are extremely popular in Japan and in manga and anime fandoms around the world. They are typically about 50,000 words in length — around the minimum length for a Western novel — and come with plenty of illustrations. Because Tokyo Pop publishes manga primarily, many fans had previously speculated that this would be a manga-style comic book.
At this point, many fans are just glad that there will be any continuation of The Owl House at all. The show has amassed an extremely dedicated following online, but not enough to rescue it from cancellation. Back in May, Terrace announced that Season 3 would be the show's last. That still leaves plenty of new episodes to come, as Season 2 just began airing in June.
Fans had hoped that with enough outspoken support they could convince Disney to rescue the show, either on its network or on its streaming service, Disney+. The studio is adding new episodes to Disney+ as they air, so a spike in viewership could potentially catch the company's attention.
The "third season" will not even be a conventional season, either. It will reportedly be just three extra-long episodes of about 44 minutes each. It is not clear if those will air immediately after Season 2 or if there will be a bit of a break.
For now, fans are urging each other to watch the series on Disney+, post about it online and pre-order the untitled book. The Owl House airs on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. ET on The Disney Channel. New users can get a free trial of Disney+ here.