Disney's 2-Part Mystery Series Was Named One Of The Best By Guillermo del Toro

2 weeks ago 14

Published May 30, 2026, 2:02 PM EDT

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.

It takes a lot for Guillermo del Toro to single out a series for praise, but one Disney masterpiece managed to earn the legendary horror director’s recommendation during its two-season run. Thanks to masterpieces like Pan’s Labyrinth, Blade II, The Devil’s Backbone, The Shape of Water, and Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro is one of the first names in Hollywood horror cinema. The director is a legend in the genre, and he has spent his years as a pre-eminent horror filmmaker using his platform to elevate others.

Within this context, it should come as no surprise that one spooky Disney+ series managed to earn the attention of the horror icon. However, the fact that this animated show was a DisneyXD cartoon ostensibly aimed at children makes this achievement more impressive. Creator Alex Hirsch’s Gravity Falls debuted in 2012 and ran until 2016, with its two seasons soon becoming some of the most acclaimed television ever made by the entertainment giant.

Gravity Falls Is One of the Best Disney Shows Of All Time

Mabel, Dipper, Soos, Candy, and Grenda in the Gravity Falls episode "Summerween".

Set in the titular tourist trap town, Gravity Falls takes place over one long summer as twelve-year-old brother and sister Mabel and Dipper Pines spend the season with their great uncle, or “Grunkle,” Stan. An eccentric conman, Grunkle Stan runs the local “Mystery Shack” that purports to be home to the town’s many mysterious anomalies that defy explanation. Although the “Mystery Shack” is an obvious cash grab by a shameless grifter, the central irony of the series is that the town truly is awash with strange supernatural goings-on.

Like an animated predecessor to Netflix’s hit small-town mystery Stranger Things, Gravity Falls blends coming-of-age dramedy with ambitious world building and lore that combines sci-fi, horror, mystery, and fantasy elements. The titular town is home to gnomes, monsters, time travelers, ghosts trapped in convenience stores, and a ten-year-old televangelist bent on world domination, but these paranormal problems don’t gain any more focus than Dipper’s first crush on one of Grunkle Stan’s employees or Mabel’s struggles to make friends in the tiny town.

With a flawless Rotten Tomatoes score of 100%, Gravity Falls is an anomaly in the world of Disney shows. Occasionally, Netflix shows like My Name might earn a perfect rating, but this is typically due to a combination of both their high quality and their lack of reviews due to relative obscurity. Gravity Falls was one of the most-watched shows on DisneyXD throughout its history and earned a massive fandom both during and after its two-season run, yet the show has still managed to hold onto this flawless critical score.

Gravity Falls Succeeded By Breaking With Disney Tradition

Del Toro shouted out the show in a post on X where he said that it was “one of the best realized, most compelling series around,” and later mentioned the series in a 2017 interview, where he called it “superb” and singled out Gravity Falls as one of “the shows I most admire.” This was incredibly high praise from such a prominent director, but viewers who have seen Gravity Falls won’t be surprised to see Del Toro raving about the series.

Much like its more R-rated competitor Rick and Morty, Gravity Falls became a critical darling and a cult sensation with a massive fan base because the show pulled from a diverse array of unexpected influences in its story. Gravity Falls borrowed heavily from Twin Peaks, Stephen King, and a whole host of other distinctly un-Disney influences, creating a series that felt nothing like anything the family-friendly studio had produced before.

While some of Disney’s darker movies, such as The Black Cauldron, featured moments of horror and dark fantasy, what made Gravity Falls unique was the way in which the show felt more like a TV show that happened to be suitable for children than a show aimed at kids. The show’s mystery box construction drip-fed clues to its overarching mystery in a way that would have made Lost or Stranger Things jealous, and the eventual ending of the series made more sense and felt more tightly planned than either of those ostensibly darker, more mature hits.

Taking inspiration from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as much as Tangled or Enchanted, Gravity Falls provided younger viewers with a show that felt authentically unpredictable, funny, and, at times, truly dark. The fact that the show wrapped up after only two 20-episode seasons also ensured Hirsch’s series never outlived its welcome, leaving viewers desperate for more of Mabel and Dipper’s adventures but equally content with the self-contained story of the existing original series.

Will Gravity Falls Season 3 Ever Happen?

Bill Cipher and Ford having a standoff in Gravity Falls.

It is tough to tell whether a third season of Gravity Falls could ever happen or, indeed, if this would be a good idea. Since the original show’s ending aired in 2016, the viral shorts "Soos’ Stan Fiction," "Gravity Falls x Line Rider," "Broken Karaoke," and "How NOT to Draw" have all brought back characters from the show, while the 2018 graphic novel Gravity Falls: Lost Legends and the 2024 novel The Book of Bill both expanded the fictional universe of the series.

However, the idea of Gravity Falls season 3 raises a few problematic questions for the series as it stands. The narrative of the original show, which begins at the start of a formative summer for Mabel and Dipper and ends with their bus ride home at the end of the tourist season, is perfectly self-contained as is. While a third season could introduce new main characters, this would run the risk of feeling like a spinoff.

A New Gravity Falls Successor Just Became Official

One of the people who worked on Gravity Falls has created an upcoming release that looks as though it could be a perfect fit for fans wanting more.

In contrast, bringing back the same main characters may not work, since Mabel and Dipper would no longer be teetering on the edge of their shared teenage years, and the more cynical outlook of teenage main characters could kill the show’s delicate balance of idealism and youthful inexperience. As such, Disney's Gravity Falls may be better off remaining a perfect two-season masterpiece.

Release Date 2012 - 2016-00-00

Showrunner Alex Hirsch

Directors Aaron Springer, Matt Braly, Stephen Sandoval

Writers Alex Hirsch, Matt Chapman, Tim McKeon, Jeff Rowe, Josh Weinstein, Mike Rianda, Shion Takeuchi, Mark Rizzo, Aury Wallington, David Slack, Nancy Cohen