Over the weekend, fans of Disney Channel’s hit series, The Ghost and Molly McGee, were excited for the season two finale, “Jinx Vs. The Human World” to air, but many of them didn’t realize the second part of the two-episode broadcast, “The End,” would also be the end of the series, not just a season-wrapping cliffhanger.
According to one half of the show’s creator duo, Bill Motz, who has been very active on X as the show came to an end, “We had two quotes posted on our production bulletin board. The first was the one by C.S. Lewis that said "To love is to be vulnerable." This (above) is the second one.”
Anyone who has watched the final episode of The Ghost and Molly McGee can see why this quote is appropriate, but if you haven’t seen the episode yet, there are spoilers ahead. In “The End”, Scratch is flooded with memories about his human life while binge eating funnel cakes. Something that I and many other fans have been longing to see throughout the season since it was first teased much earlier on that we’d see more of his living experience, as opposed to just his ghost life.
With the onslaught of memories, Molly is able to find out that Scratch’s friend Adia is still alive, and they had formerly adventured around the world together. But in order to figure out how Scratch died, she reaches out Adia via a failed video call, where we learn that Scratch isn’t his actual name, but a nickname – oh and twist- confusion over the news that Scratch is actually dead. Viewers were not held in suspense for too long as Libby was on the case, and had already figured everything out with the help of Molly’s boo, Ollie, and his sister.
When Scratch was eating the funnel cakes, he and Geoff were possessing humans and the reason all those memories came back was because he had entered the body of his human, living self. That’s right – Scratch has been a wraith this entire time. He is still alive, and his human form – Todd Mortenson – has lost his soul because he had played it safe his whole life instead of living it.
Some fans of the show had this as a theory for most of the series, and others were blindsided by the reveal. However, it turns out clues have been planted from the beginning, so those speculating fans were definitely on to something. Motz shared some tweets focused on this, including where the name Todd came from. This also alludes to the fact that you see Todd (AKA Human Scratch) peppered throughout the series already. Writer Smmie Crowley also shared some foreshadowing tidbits, though they were more recent.
“The End” aired after the season two finale, which had a few loose ends to tie up, namely the fact that Scratch had now relinquished his chairman robes and is now allowing the robes themselves to choose who is most worthy of wearing them. Tragically, we’ll never get to see that play out, but we do know thanks to Motz and the team’s social media profiles that there were plenty of Season 3 story ideas, including Ollie as the new wearer of the chairman’s robes. Others reportedly included a story about Libby struggling with writer's block, a Purim holiday special, a revolt against the recorder, and Molly helping rekindle Mr. Pham's love of teaching.
Motz also shared how the finale episode came to be, candidly explaining a lot of the inner workings at the network and why The Ghost and Molly McGee was ending. The following was shared on X in numerous thread entries, but put together below for clarity:
“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. A couple last things:
This show has been a labor of love by all who helped make it. If you worked on #TheGhostandMollyMcGee in any way, please take a bow by saying what you did and tagging yourself with #TGAMMCREW. If you enjoyed the show, thank them and Disney on their handles.
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”
Though there will be no new episodes, you can catch up with the full series of The Ghost and Molly McGee on Disney+ and as episodes re-air on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app.