While it’s lucky that The Owl House can produce a season 3 after its cancellation, the differing format is wasting the show’s best characters. This is especially noticeable given that season 3 only has three episodes. Instead of the typical 19-21, to wrap up character and narrative arcs, it took two full seasons to prepare for. As a result, the show had to condense much of its story and characters, which may very well limit The Owl House and its characters from living up to their full potential.
The imbalance between seasons 1 and 2 and the time season 3 has available is particularly strained, considering that the later season has so much ground to cover. The first two seasons introduced Luz Noceda (Sarah-Nicole Robles) to the Demon Realm and The Owl House’s eclectic cast. She began her quest to become a witch under the tutelage of Eda the Owl Lady (Wendie Malick) while the pair faced off against the oppressive Emperor Belos (Matthew Rhys) and his attempts to capture Eda. Meanwhile, season 2 revealed Belos’ plans to use his coven system to destroy all witches. From the beginning, Eda and Belos have held the two opposite poles of the story, with Luz moving between them as the protagonist.
The Owl House Season 3 Doesn’t Have Time To Pay Off Its Belos Hints
With so much at stake in season 3, including the introduction of a new, powerful entity in The Collector (Fryda Wolff), it seems less and less likely that The Owl House will be able to fully reveal Belos’ backstory while also resolving the main plot. Seasons 1 and 2 provided several looks into Belos’ timeline in The Owl House and even introduced him when he was known as Phillip before his ascendancy to Emperor. Season 3 continued this trend by providing a few scenes that belong to Belos alone. But his whole backstory has only been hinted at in the first episode of season 3, making it unclear how much of his revealed history is a legend and how much is true.
With the final episode of The Owl House needing to address critical plot points such as the Collector’s defeat and Belos’ machinations to finish what he started, there may not be time to explore Phillip’s motives more than the show already has. This is unfortunate, given that the clash between Eda and the Emperor has been one of the main conflicts throughout the series and would typically warrant a full resolution on its own if Belos was the only main villain. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem if season 3 had not been so limited in its screen time, which would have allowed Belos to complete his arc while also raising the stakes with The Collector.
The Owl House Season 3 Can’t Focus On Both Eda And Luz
This same problem of pacing imbalance is an issue for the protagonists of The Owl House as well as the antagonists. Seasons 1 and 2 were so strong partially because they focused on how Luz and Eda’s relationship grew and changed throughout the show, even while there was no doubt that Luz was the main protagonist and point-of-view character. But with season 3’s time jump, this works against the show because the narrative weight must be given to Luz as she and her friends resist The Collector, depicting how they’ve grown and what they do without the help of Eda.
To complete this arc in season 3, Eda may need to be sidelined. She has barely appeared in season 3 of The Owl House so far, even once Luz and her friends returned to the Demon Realm, and she may not have as large a presence in the third episode either. Of course, it’s not likely she’ll be completely absent in the last episode of the show, but with the focus narrowing toward the students, such as Hunter resolving his twist as a Grimwalker and Luz and King (Alex Hirsch) facing The Collector, there may not be enough time in 45 minutes for The Owl House to give Eda her due.