Disney's newest animated film looks like it will be perfect for fans of The Owl House. The Disney Channel series ran for three seasons, and in the five years since its cancellation, fans have been looking for something to fill the void. Now, Disney Animation has unveiled the trailer for its next major animated feature, Hexed, and it sure looks a lot like The Owl House.
There were few public plot details for Hexed apart from the fact that it would follow a mother-daughter duo and take place in a magical realm of witches. The first trailer for Hexed filled in some of the blanks. It introduces audiences to Billie Doe (Hailee Steinfeld), a high school misfit who is bullied and unwittingly discovers she possesses magical powers. After accidentally activating these powers, Billie is expelled from school, which causes great concern for her mother, Alice (Rashida Jones).
Billie's powers lead her into the hidden world of Hexe, a land of witches, where she meets Elias Quire (Stephen Fry), a magical journal, and Ms. Quill (Tracey Ullman), an enchanted quill pen. Billie is then thrown headfirst into this new land, uncovering all of its charms and terrors, while discovering the depths of her own magic.
While Hexed is an original idea, not based on any existing Disney IP, fans have been quick to point out that it shares some similarities with The Owl House.
In response to the trailer, one user on X said that Hexed is "definitely ripping off Owl House." Another user on X tempered expectations, saying this likeness is "like saying [The Owl House] copied Halloweentown, Winx Club, or Harry Potter," adding that "the magical protagonist who discovers a new world" is a decades-old cliche.
The full trailer for Hexed can be viewed below:
Hexed is Disney's next major animated feature film, following Toy Story 5. It is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand and will be released in cinemas on November 25 as the studio's major Thanksgiving tentpole.
Are Hexed and The Owl House Really That Similar?
As mentioned, The Owl House and Hexed share very similar premises: the main protagonist, an unconventional teenage girl, discovers a hidden magical land and her own abilities in the process. However, this is also a very common premise in pop culture, with Harry Potter, Shadowhunters, and all manner of young adult fantasy titles using the same conceit.
The magical realms that Hexed and The Owl House explore each seem to have their own quirks that make them distinct. The Owl House takes place in the Demon Realm and sees the protagonist, Luz, living in the Boiling Isles as an apprentice to the witch, Eda Clawthorne, and her demon housemate, King. Not much is known about Hexe, the magical land Billie steps into in Hexed, but the trailer so far has teased a vibrant fantasy world filled with witches and monsters.
While both Luz and Billie share some similarities as protagonists, they also seem to be inherently quite different. Hexed follows Billie coming to understand her newly discovered magical powers, while The Owl House sees Luz become a witch's apprentice despite having no inherent magical abilities of her own.
That said, family seems to be a central motif in both projects: The Owl House focuses on Luz's found family in the Demon Realm, and Hexed explores the relationship between Billie and her mother, Alice.
It remains to be seen how similar or different Hexed and The Owl House are until more is known about Hexed's story, but based on the initial trailer, the new animated fantasy film from Disney could definitely fill the void for those missing The Owl House.
