A Look at the New Trailer for Knights of Guinevere
Vengeance, thy name is the Knights of Guinevere.
Five years ago, Gravity Falls and DuckTales! alumni Dana Terrace made her creative debut with The Owl House, a show about a quirky girl named Luz who found herself in a world of magic and demons, inspiring her to learn magic for herself. And everyone loved it. Fans of Gravity Falls flocked to it just like they did with its sister show, Amphibia. People praised it for its LGBTQ representation, great characters, and genuinely emotional storytelling. But despite how amazing it was, Disney failed to appreciate what they had. Because it didn’t fit their brand, the House of Mouse cut their promised third season down to three extra-long specials, forcing Dana to wrap everything in as neat a bow as possible. And while Dana and her team managed to nail the ending, the damage had already been done. And it wouldn’t take long for Disney to realize it had made a mistake.
While The Owl House had been popular already, news of it and Dana’s mistreatment at the hands of Disney sent it into the stratosphere. Its fan base exploded thanks to word of mouth and views on YouTube and Disney+. But Dana decided she didn’t want anything to do with Disney, and promptly quit after The Owl House finished. And when she left, she and her team took their millions of fans with them. Fast-forward to 2025, and Dana looks ready to get some payback with her new show, Knights of Guinevere, courtesy of Glitch Productions.
And the fans are behind her all the way.
Glitch is a Powerhouse
For those who don’t know, Glitch Productions is an Australian Indie animation founded in 2017 by two brothers. The two had already made a name for themselves making their own indie-animated YouTube series, but in the past four years, they’ve become a household name. Starting with their independent series Murder Drones, Glitch has been creating hit after hit, with The Amazing Digital Circus having views in the hundreds of millions, and the more recent Gaslight District getting a lot of attention. Between the hits online and the merch being sold on their website and Hot Topic, Glitch has been bringing home the bacon. They’ve become a Mecca for people who don’t want to be constrained by the limits companies like Disney put on them. That makes them perfect for someone like Dana.
As dark and mature as The Owl House could get at times, especially as its story progressed, it was nothing compared to what Dana had in mind. Her initial vision for The Owl House was a show that could be both dark and whimsical. Yet she had to make compromises to fit Disney’s target demographic. The fact that she still managed to craft a dark and compelling story under those restrictions is a testament to what she’s capable of doing. However, since it’s made on the Internet, Knights of Guinevere will have no restrictions. And judging by its trailer, she’s not holding anything back, including what her thoughts are about Disney.
Knights of Guinevere Has Some Things to Say to Disney
From the outset, the trailer makes it clear that Disney was a major inspiration for Knights of Guinevere, and it’s not all negative. The first third of the trailer is presented in a manner that serves as a deliberate callback to the company’s early days, back when the Disney Brothers were running it. The cutesy imagery, the old-timey introduction, all of it’s meant to remind us of the Disney of yesteryear. The time when Disney cared more about storytelling and entertainment than it did about profit. Regardless of the company today, I still love classic Disney, and it’s clear that Dana still has a deep appreciation for it.
Then we start to see what the setting of the show, Park Planet, is really like. It’s a theme park the size of a planet that floats in the clouds far above the surface. But while it’s meant to be this place of wonder and whismy, the reality is far different for the people on the surface. It’s heavily polluted and covered in factories, with its denizens living in poverty and being oppressed by the Park’s staff. Worse, their mascot, Guinevere, is shown to be reduced to a cyborg with barely any traces left of her humanity, if she ever had it. In other words, it stinks.
Pretty Big Heaven/Hell Symbolism Here
It’s no secret that public opinion on Disney has soured a bit in recent years. It feels like forever since they churned out something original and meaningful. Combined with Dana’s own experiences, and you get a very dark parody of the Disney of today. There’s also a bit of religious duology to be found in the setting. Park Planet is set up to be this heavenly paradise; the fact that it floats in the clouds only emphasizes this fact. If Park Planet is Heaven, then the surface is Hell. Yet “Heaven” is shown to be just as bad as Hell, judging by what we see. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but it feels like Knights of Guinevere is trying to say that the entire system is rotting from the inside out. Then again, I could be thinking about it too much.
Knights of Guinevere’s first episode comes out on September 19th, and already, the series is making an impact. People were already excited to hear Dana was working with Glitch, but things have only gone into overdrive since the trailer came out. I’ve seen several YouTubers I follow, all of whom are fans of animation, churning out theories, breakdowns, and analysis’ of the trailer. If this is what we get before the show even starts, then Knights of Guinevere is setting itself up to be a major success. And you can bet that I will be there on opening day, ready to watch and review it!
