The Owl House has finally come to an end with last weekend’s season 3 series finale. Since its debut in 2020, Luz’s magical adventures with her friends have garnered critical acclaim and millions of viewers. In recent months, it's topped the list of most-watched shows on Disney Plus, second only to longtime fan-favorite franchises like The Mandalorian and The Simpsons.
Critics praised The Owl House's compelling character development and inclusivity, while its macabre themes and art have built a dedicated fanbase. It's an isekai, a subgenre of fantasy defined by a protagonist that's transported from their world into a new or unfamiliar one.
In The Owl House, we followed 14-year-old Luz Noceda (voiced by Sarah-Nicole Robles), who stumbles upon a portal to the demon realm. There monsters and witches live on an archipelago created by the decaying remains of a titan’s corpse. She studied magic to become a witch at the horrifying Hexide school, while unravelling a conspiracy that threatens her newfound family.
But you already knew all of that. So, if you're not ready for the magic to end yet, here's a list of seven cartoons like The Owl House to check out.
Hilda
It's easy to get lost in Hilda's cottagecore, fantastical world. Based on the graphic novels by British cartoonist Luke Pearson, the light-hearted series follows the titular character, a curious 11-year-old attuned with the magic hidden in the world around her, on slice-of-life adventures.
Hilda (Bella Ramsey) and her mother leave the big city behind for a more peaceful life near the secluded, forested town of Trolberg. When she first arrives, her only friends are her pet deer-fox, Twig, and a helpful elf, Alfur. Over the course of the series, she befriends her classmates and teaches them about the magical world. Along the way, she learns more about the mysterious animals, spirits and residents that call Trolberg their home.
Each episode unfolds like a short film. The soft, muted autumnal palette is a defining feature of Hilda's gorgeously animated world that complements its magical realism and cozy vibes. The first season focuses on Hilda learning to navigate a non-magical world — being the new kid and overcoming other coming-of-age woes. The second and final season raises the stakes as Hilda works to forge a future where humans and magical creatures can exist in kind.
Age rating: TV-Y7
Watch it on Netflix
Gravity Falls
Gravity Falls is the original "creepy but kid-friendly" Disney cartoon. It walked so that The Owl House could run. 12-year-old twins Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) Pines are stuck spending the summer with their great uncle Stan, a curmudgeonly con artist who runs a cryptid-themed tourist trap in Gravity Falls, Oregon, called the "Mystery Shack."
Their adventures begin after Dipper finds an arcane journal detailing the town's weird mysteries. Turns out Gravity Falls is brimming with magic and monsters, from the more well-known creatures like Big Foot and Mothman to sentient mailboxes and a mini golf course populated by golf-ball shaped critters.
The brainchild of Alex Hirsch, Gravity Falls is partially based on the misadventures he and his twin had growing up in the Pacific Northwest. The writing is clever and punchy. It follows a "monster of the week" structure early on before overarching mysteries about the town's history and Stan's part in it take center stage.
Age rating: TV-Y7
Watch it on Disney Plus and Hulu
Amphibia
Amphibia is often considered a sister show to The Owl House as both are isekai stories starring teenage girls. It follows Anne Boonchuy (Brenda Song) after she and her two childhood best friends steal a mysterious music box that transports them to another world. The three are scattered to different corners of Amphibia, an exotic marshland filled with talking frogs and aquatic monsters.
Whimsical adventures-of-the-week define its earlier episodes as Anne bonds with the family of frogs who take her in and stumbles upon Amphibia's many hostile critters. But things aren't quite what they seem.
While there is an overarching narrative that intensifies as the show progresses, Amphibia's foundation is its engaging characters. The Planters teach Anne what it means to be a true friend. And in the process of finding her childhood friends, each of which has been embroiled in a faction at war with the frog people, she gains a better understanding of herself.
Age rating: TV-Y7-FV
Watch it on Disney Plus
Over the Garden Wall
Over the Garden Wall is a love letter to classic cartoons and American folklore. The story begins with two half brothers, Wirt and Greg (voiced by Elijah Wood and Collin Dean respectively), become lost in a supernatural forest called the Unknown and must find their way home. Talking animals and residents of the forest help them along in typical cartoon fashion (often breaking out into song and dance).
But everything feels off. It becomes clear early on that strange and sinister forces are lurking just beneath the surface. The townsfolk whisper warnings about a mysterious Woodsman who stalks the forest, and of an ancient spirit known as the Beast who creates trees from the souls of those lost in the forest. The exact nature of the Unknown and how the two siblings ended up there in the first place don't become clear until the last few episodes.
This miniseries is the shortest entry on our list. You can binge all 10 eleven-minute episodes in a little over 2 hours.
Age rating: TV-PG
Watch it on Hulu, HBO Max or Prime Video
Tales of Arcadia
The Tales of Arcadia trilogy is a sci-fi-fantasy animated series with some serious creative chops behind it. It's the brainchild of Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro with Pixar veteran Rodrigo Blaas and Arrow-creator Marc Guggenheim as directors.
Tales of Arcadia functions somewhat as an anthology, with each installment featuring different casts of characters exploring the same magical world that exists just beyond our reality. The franchise unfolds across three series — Wizards, Trollhunters and 3Below — and a film finale, Tollhunters: Rise of the Titans, to cap things off. Each tackles different genres and themes.
To watch everything in chronological order, start with Trollhunters, then 3Below, Wizards, and end with Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans.
Of the three, Trollhunters is the most similar to The Owl House. It chronicles a high school student who stumbles upon a magical amulet and a secret realm of trolls and magical creators, who name him their champion against impending evil forces. 3Below is a sci-fi saga about two royal alien siblings that crash land on Earth after escaping a coup on their home planet.
Meanwhile Wizards is more high fantasy. It dives into the origins of the world of Arcadia. Time-travelling wizards face off against a group of evil demigods called the Arcane Order hellbent on destroying the world, which sets up the events of the movie. All three storylines coalesce in Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans in a dramatic showdown against the Arcane Order.
Age rating: TV-Y7
Watch it on Netflix
