Avalon Heights (TV Series)

### Based on

Gravity Falls, Amphibia, The Owl House, Karen Marshe's Childhood, Fantasy Novels

### Language

English

Avalon Heights is an upcoming fantasy-dramedy television series created by Karen Marshe. It features the vocal talents of Karen Marshe, Victor James, Michelle Larson, and Fern Clark.

## Premise

Avalon Heights follows the misadventures of 14-year-old Hannah Smith (Marshe) who is whisked away to a mythical land of floating islands called The Archipelago. There she lands on the eponymous island of Avalon Heights, and finds herself taken in by the sarcastic Golden Oracle Helia Sheton (Marshe) and Helia's sweet-tempered baby dragonlet, Ansic (James). Armed with these two and other residents of the island (Larson, Clark, Others), Hannah must find a way to get back to earth while also fighting off the sinister Black Hands organization and other villains who might wish harm upon The Archipelago.

## Production

### Conception

Karen Marshe, the creator of the show and the voice of Hannah and Helia, has said that her main inspiration for Avalon Heights were the cartoons she watched and loved as a child, namely Gravity Falls (by Alex Hirsch) and Amphibia (by Matt Braly).

A secondary influence was the cartoon "The Owl House". She said that as a child, she "loved the idea of the show but didn't really like the way that idea was carried out". She'd also read reviews of the show that said parents shouldn't let their children watch it because it promoted witchcraft, and that she wanted to make a show that was like The Owl House but could be watched and enjoyed by everyone, regardless of their religious or political standings.

A third influence was Marshe's own childhood, especially the fantasy novels she was obsessed with. She's said:

> I LOVED fantasy novels and RPGs. In a way, this was what inspired Hannah's nerdiness, and also the complexity and richness of the magic I'd built up around The Archipelago.
>
> -Karen Marshe

### Writing and Character Development

Marshe was the main writer of the show, along with storyboard artist Sam Bacon. Some direction was also given by Lindsay Thomas, who is the voice of Aster Lumen. (According to Marshe, all the cast and crew of the show were close personal friends who had known each other beforehand.) Marshe said that coming up with characters was the main story structure, and that once she had a cast, the rest of the story would fall into place. Some things she revealed about characters:

* The reason that Hannah is a bi-racial girl with a Greek Mom is because Marshe hadn't ever seen a Greek protagonist onscreen before, except for Wonder Woman.
* In the original idea for the show, Hannah had friends who were taken to The Archipelago with her but sent to other islands. This idea was scrapped because it sounded too much like Amphibia, so those friends became Lila Sanstrel and River Ohms.
* In an early draft, there was an idea that Helia would have had a past failed romance with a human man, and that human man would have been Hannah's father, David Smith. Marshe eventually discarded this idea because she thought it would be too weird for Hannah to experience.
	+ This would have been the original explanation as to why the snow globe was in the possession of the Smiths.
* Aster Lumen was written solely so that Lindsay Thomas could have a role in the show.