'The Ghost And Molly McGee' Co-Creator Details How The Show Scratched Away At 'The End'

Bill Motz and Bob Roth’s animated Disney Channel comedy ended Saturday night after 2 seasons and 41 episodes

Can’t believe you’re all done, a journey that’s all fun. Now we’re never ever ever gonna get new eps again. On Saturday, January 13, Disney Channel premiered the second season finale of animated comedy The Ghost and Molly McGee, episode 21 “The End”. And as blunt as that might’ve been, stranger things have happened. And Disney Channel wasn’t advertising it as a series finale. It took until viewers actually watched the episode to see that indeed, what they were watching was the show’s series finale. When it ended, cast, crew, and even other Disney Television Animation employees were able to confirm it all, including the more social media-savvy of the show’s creators, Bill Motz.

The Ghost and Molly McGee is about Molly McGee (voiced by Ashly Burch), who lives to make the world a better place, and by the end of the series is being awarded a Bronze Turnip trophy for her contributions to the town. For ghosts like the grumpy Scratch (voiced by Dana Snyder), their job is to spread misery. When one of Scratch’s curses backfires, he finds Molly has become his curse. Over the course of the series, he finds himself gradually becoming better and as joyous as she is. In “The End”, a rush of memories come back to Scratch, and it leads him to make big decisions about his afterlife, and let’s just call it that it lands Scratch in some risky bussin’.

The crew, including creators Bill Motz and Bob Roth and executive producer Steve Loter, watched the episode premiere together. Afterward, Motz was ready to spill everything about how the series came to an end, but not before showing gratitude, saying:

Bob and I want to express our profound thanks to @DisneyTVA and every single person who graced our show with their talent. Without you, Molly would just be another idea swimming around in our heads.

We hope that #TheGhostandMollyMcGee has brought you joy and that you always keep a little Molly McGee in your spirit as you “enhappify” your family, friends, communities, and world.   Thank you also to all of our #TGAMM fans for your wonderful support. It’s been a delight taking this journey with you

And so he told the whole story of how “The End” came to be, in a very lengthy Twitter thread that is much appreciated for its transparency.

We were deep in the writing of Season 2 scripts when #TheGhostandMollyMcGee premiered in October 2021. The early indicators from our first drop on Disney+ were that the show was doing quite well, so wanting to keep the production going, Disney decided to commission the writing of 10 Season 3 scripts in hopes of success.

Unfortunately, without the robust marketing support we had at launch, our second drop on Disney+ in December 21 did not perform as well. Even though our third drop improved, by early June 2022, it was decided that the show would not continue onto a Season 3. It was pencils down.

Obviously, this broke our hearts. And not just the hearts of “The Ghost and Molly McGee” crew, but all the supporting teams at Disney TVA, including the leadership that had invested passion, time, and resources into bringing this show to life.

Bob and I always knew how we wanted the series to end, but without additional episodes, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to tell that story. So, we asked for one more episode to wrap everything up.

That was a HUGE request, asking Disney to spend additional resources on a show they had just decided not to continue. Yet somehow, miraculously, the team at Disney TVA found a way to make it happen.

At that same time, big changes came to Disney: Bob Chapek left and Bob Iger returned. With those transitions, and knowing that it can take a show 15 months to find an audience, many felt there was an opportunity to revisit the Season 3 decision. The studio liked the show and hoped that its Season 2 performance would prove that it should continue.

It was during this time that the title “The End” was revealed, so Bob Tweeted, “The End doesn’t necessarily mean the end.” The plan was to hold that episode until it was clear the series was actually coming to an end.

And indeed, Season 2 did perform quite well. But, in this ever-changing and dynamic media landscape, the show needed to grow its viewership even more than it did to merit additional episodes. So, the no Season 3 decision was upheld.

Here’s the thing I want you to know: We are incredibly proud of this show. It is everything we hoped it would be and more. There’s not a single thing we would change about it.

And though we are sad the series has come to an end, we are also immensely grateful to Disney for believing in us and bringing our vision to life.

I cannot stress enough what a big deal this is. The studio committed years of resources, effort, and support to make “The Ghost and Molly McGee” a reality. The fact that the show exists at all is amazing to me.

We hope our little show has brought you joy and that you always keep a little Molly McGee in your spirit as you “enhappify” your family, friends, communities, and world.

Thank you,

Bill Motz

So yeah, a lack of marketing leading to a drop in Disney+ viewership got the show canceled but with a gracious finale ordered to wrap everything up, even after ten season 3 scripts were ordered. Apparently people are supposed to know the episodes are coming by magic. There is an acknowledgement to fans unearthing the title, and I believe it was from the EIDR but I don’t quite remember. The Ghost and Molly McGee ends after 2 seasons and 41 episodes aired over 27 months. Gravity Falls took nearly a year and a half more to release the same amount of episodes. Molly and Scratch’s support system included her parents Pete and Shannon, voiced by Jordan Klepper and Sumalee Montano, her brother Darryl, voiced by Michaela Dietz, and her best friend Libby, voiced by Lara Jill Miller.

Writer Brandon Hoang actually shared some of the season three plots with their titles that he wrote, including “The Writer of Knell”Libby struggling with writer's block, a Purim special called “Saving Purim”, a revolt against the recorder in “Taking a Band Stand”, and Molly helping rekindle Mr. Pham's love of teaching in “Teaching Mr. Pham”. Benjamin Simeon, who works at Disney Multiplatform, which essentially works on shorts like Theme Song Takeover, Broken Karaoke, and As Told By Chibi, promises the cast still has appearances to come there. “The End” is currently available on Disney Channel’s YouTube and will arrive on Disney+ on Wednesday.

Sources: What’s On Disney Plus, Bill Motz, Brandon Hoáng, Ben Siemon