Dana Terrace Q&A at Weebcon 2025!!!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Since I donāt see anyone else posting it (despite not being the only person recording, I noticed at least two others), I may as well show my recording of the Dana Terrace Q&A from Weebcon 2025! I actually got to ask Dana a question myself, more on that a bit; But as for the rundown:
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If she was transported to the Boiling Isles, the person to teach her magic would of course be Eda; Dana sheepishly hesitated as she said it because it was so obvious, but at the same time what other answer would there be, besides maybe Bump??? She joked that Eda would probably get her killed, but still!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Out of the voice cast, Wendie Malick as Eda really stuck out to Dana, being a professional who knew exactly what to do, and a pretty well-known one at that; It was Danaās first time as a showrunner so she was inexperienced in guiding the VAs, but Wendie helped encourage Dana to offer her input.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If asked what track sheād be in, Dana acknowledged her self-insert and acknowledged they were an Oracle, and also Beastkeeping, though noted itād been two years, so she had trouble remembering; Indeed, IIRC she said in a Post-Hoot after the finale that her self-insert was supposed to be in Construction? Or maybe Iām just making that connection because back during the 2020 Reddit AMA, Dana brought up Construction due to being a more artsy coven.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dana was excited how she, JBO, and Zach now had the opportunity to do all of the grosser, tense, emotionally intense things they wanted to do with The Owl House in Knights of Guinevere. KoG was actually developed towards the end of TOHās run, in fact; During Danaās freetime, sheād keep herself from going insane by working on this project, and eventually pitched it to her fellow head writers, who helped Dana develop the idea further. Eventually they pitched KoG to Glitch a year later. Dana described it as āmessyā and āexperimentalā but also āfun.ā
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā I find this revelation interesting, because given how long production in animation takes, it always amazed me how quickly Dana was able to get another show running, after TOH ended! So learning it was technically in the works since before TOH ended fits things nicely into a timeline here; Dana didnāt simply take a surprisingly short showrunning hiatus and then come up with this, it was being formulated as TOH was wrapping up!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā No surprise, Disney and Glitch are āNight and dayā in their treatment of artists and showrunners, with Dana mentioning she feels taken care of by Glitch, treated nicely.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If Dana had the opportunity to voice one of her characters, she said āif she was suddenly good at voice acting- King, due to his āexplosive rangeā while mentioning a KoG character who has yet to debut.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Pitching a show is starting an idea, working on it from months to year; TOH only took a couple months before Dana pitched it to Disney, because she needed to do this, to try and see if it got any traction. She brought it a room of 2-3 people who pretended to be interested, because theyād heard a bunch of other pitches that day, so when Dana stood out, it felt nice. It takes three months for executives to decide if they want to move forward on it, and then another 3-6 months, etc.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dana got be involved with the voice actors as much as she wanted to and could, with seasons 1-2, she was there for almost every performance. With S2B and S3, Dana could trust Eden Riegel to direct in her place as she was more involved with writing at the time. Dana was mostly involved in writing, in figuring out the scripts and working with the weird curveballs Disney threw them; Some solutions were successful, others not as much. There were many limitations in S1.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Every performance of Hooty by Alex in the booth was hilarious; Heād often start riffing in Hootyās voice and going a full minute longer than his actual two lines to say. They were able to use a couple of Hooty lines, but most were unused.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā This was the part where us fans were invited to line up and ask questions!!!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If Dana could change one thing about the show (other than the cancellation) she admitted to wanting to rewrite Once Upon a Swap LMAAAAOOOOOOOOO-
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā To come up with the concept of TOHās universe, Dana started off with the initial concept that she disliked a lot of fantasy novels and stories. So when she created, it came from a place of cynicism and negativity (not always great, in her words), and she liked to challenge herself to take something she disliked and found frustrating, and figure out a version of it she could love. So Dana turned this fantasy world into something more gruesome, scary. She put a horror spin, gave everything teeth and claws; Make it fun for her!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Five years ago, the character Dana related to the most was Luz because of plenty of her stories, esp in regard to her fatherās death at a young age and not fitting in. But now that Danaās thirty-four, she relates to Eda a lot; She finds herself becoming more isolated and against the world. At some point she might start wearing solely red dresses.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā When creating the concept of the Collector, Danaās thought process was wanting to create someone very ethereal and childish, and had this thought of a child flying through space, who never understood death, and liked to create chaos and destruction in his wake. She doesnāt really know why. The thought process and the galactic aesthetic of someone like that was very interesting to Dana; The Collector ended up being one of her favorite characters.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā (I find this info very vindicating, as Iāve seen people speculate that the Collector not knowing of death was a contradictory retcon done in S3 to make them more sympathetic; No, that was always the idea, since the very beginning! Since they rewrote the Collector prior to S2B, mind you; Before that, Dana confirmed during her Gallery Nucleus that they originally had a different personality and direction as seen in 2A, which is likely why that depiction was made into a separate character, an Archivist. But by Elsewhere and Elsewhen, a Collector oblivious to death was always the goal. Weāre getting Ship of Theseus here about characters during the development process.)
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Onto my question!!! I asked about the Watching and Dreaming storyboard in which Odalia wouldāve been there alongside the Hexsquad, watching the horizon after Belosā defeat, and how Rebecca Bozza confirmed there was a cut confrontation between Camila and Odalia in the Archives.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dana mused that if Camila ever met Odalia, it probably wouldnāt be a pretty situation; Thereād be a lot of glares. But thereās no canonical confrontation, so Dana could only pretend that Camila wouldāve smacked her.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā I think Dana may have misheard my question? And/or she didnāt recall what they had planned for the finale (I was too shy to clarify, press her about it); It makes me wonder if the idea had been too shortlived, and the writers juggling so much (in addition to Dana handling KoG, as weāve just discovered), that itās since slipped her mind after two years. This does make me wonder if it was, in some part, a fluke by the storyboard artist; After all, Clouds on the Horizon had storyboards in which Amity wore the portal key necklace while confronting her mother within the Abomaton bubble.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Of all the TOH scenes Dana wrote, her favorite was the whole third act of Kingās Tide; She co-wrote it with Zach Marcus. Dana handled a lot of how it paced out, the way the dialogue came out. Sometimes Dana writes a script and itās the most painful, struggling experience for her; So difficult to perfect and get out, requiring a thousand changes. But for Kingās Tide, there it was! And sheās very proud of it. Dana has a hard time looking back at the show, because itās like an old sketchbook for her; Sheās always wishing she couldāve done something better. But Kingās Tide is one of the few episodes she can say she nailed that one.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā (God I feel that. Personal aside, I think something a lot of writers take for granted is their ability to always look back and edit and revise at their own leisure, even after posting, whenever they want, until the end of time. But writers for shows donāt exactly get that luxury, especially when a script needs to be finalized so animation and everything else, its own beast, can follow suit. Canāt easily update a script āesp at the last second- without demanding the rest follow!)
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Two questions about KoG; What was the moment when Dana worked with Glitch that made her realize the difference between it and Disney? Dana was very cautious going into Glitch, and as she told some there, that she was going in like a stray cat who didnāt trust anyone, like she was left out in the cold. But slowly, over the course of the year, Dana realized Glitch actually treated their artists with respect; If someone says something isnāt working and offers another way, Glitch actually listens and changes! Wild! Theyāre a company (sheād rather say āgroup of peopleā) that seem very determined to learn and grow and make sure everyoneās doing right. Glitch is a far cry from Disney.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The other question was what was the process of Glitch doing 2D animation for KoG instead of its usual 3D; Did Dana have to convince them, or were they open from the start? Dana thought Glitch was always excited to do 2D, and one of the things she was able to offer was her experience in doing a 2D show and how production for it would look. It was an arrangement that worked out for everyone, where Dana got to create her own pipeline for the show which has been working very well this far. Thereās no odd restrictions from Glitchās management, itās been very nice.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā In regards to cosplays sheād like to see of her characters, or which stood out to her, Dana once saw a 7-foot tall (before the horns!!!) Belos cosplay that was size-accurate via giant platform boots underneath the cloak; It was awesome. Dana always loves seeing King costumes because theyāre essentially giant furry suits, but she speculates itās also why she doesnāt see many of them, because furry suits can be very intense to make. But Dana was very excited to see any KoG cosplays in the future.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā This part intrigued me, because the day prior, a fan dressed as the princess from KoG had shown up to meet Dana Terrace and Iād come across them, exchanged info, and clarified that the schedule for Dana had updated since it was announced back near the end of February; At first she was going to be there for all three days of Weebcon, but could only be there for two (On her Bluesky account, she did allude to some trouble occurring to her that Friday, which may have been the reason for this change). Iād reassured the cosplayer they hadnāt missed Dana or done anything wrongā¦
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā And lo and behold, the person who asked the question had also met this cosplayer, and brought it up to Dana! Dana was excited and wished she couldāve seen, and asked for anyone with a photo of the cosplay to tag her on Twitter or any other social media.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā What Dana listens to when doing art is True Crime podcasts, which sucked her in during the pandemic. Other than that, she listens to classical music, as it fires certain neurons within her brain that get her very focused; She has a hard time watching anything when drawing. Sometimes Dana goes into psycho mode, pure silence; Earplugs in, nothing but the beat of her own heart, and pure focus. Locked-in, takes a certain insane mood for sure.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā A fellow Raine cosplayer asked Dana what she was most excited for in regard to KoG, and she said Episode 4!!! Thereās lots of stuff Dana and co. are planning; Obviously the pilotās not finished right now, but the things theyāre thinking about are very exciting and sheās excited for everyone to see the character designs and stunning animation. Dana lamented that if she kept going, sheād end up saying something she wasnāt supposed to. Sheās so quiet posting online, because otherwise sheād just be posting KoG and inevitably slip up. Overall, sheās excited.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If Dana got to do Owl House with no restrictions, Dana absolutely wouldāve leaned more into the horror theme; She initially pitched it as PG-13 and leaning more into horror, though this doesnāt mean they wouldāve taken away any of the heart or sweetness between the characters (Which Iāve suspected and really appreciate to hear; Always good to have the heart beneath it all). All this means is that the intense scenes wouldāve been more intense, and the tension between characters more intense.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Overall the art direction mightāve been grittier; But during development, executives kept suggesting the crew round out the characters to make them more appealing, and at some point Dana was frustrated because her personal art style has a lot of straight lines. She wouldāve liked to have leaned more into horror and the original vision, BUT sheās still very happy with how it came out.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Someone I met and talked to earlier about Isabelle Rosaliniās role in the show, and the enormity of the feat, also brought it up again with their question about whether there was a TOH design where Dana had a specific actor in mind to play them.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The interviewer, at that point, had the perfect segue to bring in none other than Zeno Robinson himself, who Iād just found out was going to be at Weebcon the first day I attended, and even got a signed print from him! Iād wondered if he was going to be there at Danaās QnA and forgot to ask him about it, but of course he was. There was no way he wasnāt going to be.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Going back to the question, Dana decided sheād want everyone to be voiced by Zeno. But in all seriousness, Dana said she wasnāt allowed to answer that question.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If Dana hadnāt made TOH through Disney, was there a specific plotline she wanted in the show that couldnāt be added or was axed because of āthe ratā? Dana wouldāve loved to explore the Bat Queenās arc (talk about good timing with the prior question mentioning Rosalini, which Dana acknowledged) and had a whole thing planned, it was going to be very sweet and somber. Dana loves drawing the Bat Queen. But when they had to cut down plotlines, BQ unfortunately had to be cut.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Danaās reaction to the internetās reaction to various TOH developments wasnāt a specific one; Her stomach was always in a knot whenever an episode dropped, and she and some of the crew would watch the comment section on the sides of livestreams. It was always stressful, even if overwhelmingly positive; Zeno could relate.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Zeno mentioned how when an artist gives so much of themselves, the art is never finished in their eyes; They couldāve always done this, or added this thing. (āIt was like 90% thereā Dana concurred). Itās the most presentable version within the time constraint theyāre given, but sometimes itās never like that 100% finished product one wished they had, so itās tough as an artist to look at something objectively because you just donāt get why everyone likes it. Zeno sometimes re-listens to his Hunter audition, which Dana found so good, and wonder how he got cast. Dana clarified it was the part where Zeno freaked out.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā (Can I say how much we take for granted as fans that we can always, at our leisure, go back to update and improve our own works? Or take as long as we need to create the best version of something, without any deadlines to meet?)
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If there was a full S3, Dana confirmed to Zeno he wouldāve voiced every single hypothetical Grimwalker, and that they wouldāve alluded more to Dariusā mentor, talked about it more plainly for sure. Dana joked about doing it in a S4, but also clarified that would never be in the cards⦠Supplementary materials on the other hand!!!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Zeno mentioned wanting to see an exploration into the past of Hunter and the prior Golden Guards, and their connection to Caleb and Belos; Like a single graphic novel, Dana concurred, as thereās so many storylines in TOH that would make awesome TOH one-shot comics. She joked to Zeno about it being time to pitch spin-offs, with Zeno replying itās been enough time.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā When coming up with the magic system for TOH and how it contributed to the characters, and what her inspirations were, Dana explained it all stemmed from the basic idea that Luz herself canāt do it; Everyone else around her can do it so easily, with a literal flick of their wrist. Luz has to work extra-hard in drawing the complicated designs each time and remembering them, learning how to combine them in different ways, and the worst part, finding them in the first place, which Luz didnāt even know she had to do at first.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā So it might not have been the most elegant place to begin building a magic system, in Danaās words (if she could go back and redo it, sheād have some better solutions to some walls they ran into), but for her any kind of system, be it worldbuilding or magic, has to start with how it affects the main character, why it affects the main character, whatās the purpose of the system in the first place.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā In regard to the (leaked!!!!) pitch bible, which Dana was chill about, there are a lot of things she wished sheād kept from it; The main thing she learned as a first-time showrunner was that she needed to stick to her gut more. She had to trust her instincts more, because if she didnāt like what sheās doing or the suggestions being made, then sheās going to have a miserable time for the next four years.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā One of the changes Dana did like was Lilith going from Hexsideās principal to head of the Emperorās Coven; Being a principal just wasnāt as exciting as being behind enemy lines. Plus we got to see her fall from grace, which was really funny for Dana (same here for me). Itās tough; One needs to learn to stick to what they love, but also learn not to be precious(?) at the same time, because new and better ideas come all the time, and one needs to learn to let go of old things to embrace the new and cool things. At the same time! You need to learn how to see whatās unnecessary, and stick to an older idea; Itās a balance.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā (I feel this one a lot with GEverse.)
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dana canāt clarify on how many KoG episodes there will be, just that the pilot is in production.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dana has taken inspiration from artists such as Tatsuyuki Tanaka, who sheād murder to draw like; She was just looking at some of his works before arriving to Weebcon. Hieronymous Bosch was a huge inspiration for TOH, though she doesnāt necessarily want to draw like him; She still derives from him. She loves Naoki Urasawa, and Dana and Zeno love his Pluto, which makes Dana cry everytime she reads it; She admires Urasawa so much as an artist and storyteller. Heās one of her top favorites ever.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Whatās the deal with Hooty and the Titan? It was a symbiotic relationship. Worms are a type of parasite.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Dana wouldāve loved to put a scene in S3 (it was one of her original ideas for it!) building off of how Belos tried to manipulate Luz in Kingās Tide on the basis of her being human like him and so heās trying to āhelpā her; She wanted to make that moment so much more longer and manipulative by setting a scene in an autumnal forest, where the leaves are falling, itās quiet and serene and creepy, and Luz and Belos are speaking about their experiences with death.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā With Luz it was her father Manny, with Belos itās his brother Caleb; Obviously, itās very different circumstances, with Luz pointing out her father died. Belos killed Caleb. Them having a very intense conversation was something Dana always wanted to do, and sheās so sad she never got to do it.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā (To go on a tangent, I find this fascinating for obvious reasons, and I think the writers managed to somewhat adapt the concept into the final episode? Thereās the parallels in Belos bringing up their similarities as āwitch huntersā in order to gaslight Luz, as well as his Woe Is Me schtick about Caleb, only for Luz to shut it down with the very blatant point that Belos murdered Caleb, he brought that entire situation upon himself!
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā In general, the parallels still manage to speak for themselves, so you can feel them shadow that canon callout by Luz. So even if the exact idea didnāt go through, I think the spirit of the contrast between these two deaths that motivate Hero and Villain in opposite ways, because of opposite roles they played, culminates in Luz having every right to call out Belosā hypocrisy, as the theme of Death asserts itself before the Collector learns later on.)
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā If TOH was given a PG-13 rating and Dana could insert one F-bomb, she deliberated on either Hooty or Eda saying it; It would take her so long to figure out where in the show. Perhaps if Hooty met Belos, heād say it there.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The final question: How much does an actor know about a character when coming into an audition, and how long have they known that information prior to the audition? According to Zeno, usually thereās a description and a bit of what the character is about, maybe thereās a bit on their arc. Sometimes productions are incredibly detailed, or just detailed enough. Sometimes he gets a basic idea of a characterās trajectory, their traits and inspirations, other times itās just the main personality traits and what they like; You usually know what you need to know, and not much more than that.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā For example, Zeno didnāt know Hunterās real name when he auditioned; He was just the Golden Guard, with Dana explaining they were being very cagey about his name, not sure of how much they could put out about him. Zeno saw his face and five lines, but one can infer things from lines; It can provide more insight into personality than the description itself.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā All in all, it's surreal to not only be in one of these Q&As, but to have recorded it myself, rewatch my own recording as I transcribe, summarize, and analyze as I normally do, and even get to ask a question myself! It was difficult figuring out which question to ask, though it appears some got away with two, but alas I was shy about appearing greedy. I suppose I overthought it, and in the end everyone who lined up got to say theirs! I guess one could say I didn't actually get my question answered after all; But if I get the fortune of another chance, I'll try something different, both as a question and potentially a drawing request! If fate deems it so.














