Like Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Power of the Ring” and HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” Disney+ and Lucasfilm’s “Willow” is a big-budget fantasy adventure steeped in a prequel property. Is. There’s magic and creatures and a legendary quest embarked on by a group of unlikely heroes. But unlike these other projects, “Willow” hasn’t been crushed by the weight of expectations.
“No one at Lucasfilm was banging their fists on the table saying, ‘We need a ‘Willow’ series!” This creative freedom allowed the team to explore what “Willow” could be, free from external (or internal) pressures.
George Lucas conceived “Willow” (originally with the ill-fated title “Munchkins”) before production began on “Star Wars,” with the idea that he would make a suite of films following the classic mythology, But for modern audiences. While making “Willow” in 1987, Lucas told The New York Times: “I’ve had the idea for 15 years.” He was unable to make it that far because he needed the technology (supplied by his own effects house Industrial Light & Magic) to proceed properly. The idea for “Willow” was “not a caveman movie or a knight-in-shining-armor movie, but a movie that takes place on Earth in BC.” Lucas approached Ron Howard, who had starred in Lucas’s “American Graffiti” and had become an accomplished filmmaker in the years since, and had recently worked with ILM on “Cocoon”, to direct the film. did. (Howard later said he was trying to direct the film like Lucas.) To star in “Willow”, Lucas turned to Warwick Davis, a performer who appeared in “Return of the “Jedi” as an Ewok.
When “Willow” opened in 1988, it was a modest success, turning a decent profit, earning two Oscar nominations (both were eventually won by “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) and some decent critical notices (Siskel and Ebert gave it two Oscar nominations). gave the thumbs up), though it was a far cry from the all-consuming juggernaut of “Star Wars.” Nevertheless, there was some There – three spin-off novels, co-written by George Lucas, were released in early 1995. And occasionally Lucas would mention something about a proper sequel.
But discussions didn’t begin in earnest (at least according to Kasdan) until the production of Lucasfilm’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Howard was recruited to helm the project after the departure of original filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and Kasdan hired his father Lawrence Kasdan (who previously wrote “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Force Awakens”) had written the screenplay with. For John, “Willow” represented for him what “Harry Potter” did for a generation of children many years later – there was outcasts, magic, a sense of adventure and a chosen figure who would stick to the most unexpected of circumstances. Was. “I was exactly at the age,” Kasdan said, to fall under the “willow” spell.
Jon Kasdan said he got Howard so excited with the idea of the project that by the end of making “Solo” a new “Willow” was on its way.
But another curveball hit Kasdan when he began talking with Lucasfilm and Disney about the size of a proper “Willow” follow-up; Initially conceived as a standalone film, Disney had a new direct-to-consumer streaming platform about to launch. “Willow” was rebranded as a series and officially greenlit in 2020. Kasdan had to ask himself what this meant, he said, that he would “have to write a lot more pages.”
A story was soon added: we would follow the child Elora Danan, now a spunky young woman (played by English actress Ellie Bamber, whom Kasdan said “somehow embodied the spirit of that child from the original”). and a company of misfits on a journey outside the safety of their kingdom to confront evil and reclaim one of their own (a puck prince played by Dempsey Brick). They are, of course, mentored by an older Willow (Davis, with years of dramatic and comedic performances under her belt) and encounter (sometimes quite literally) ghosts from the past.
There are a few things that set “Willow” apart from its predecessor — the diversity of its cast (which also includes Erin Kellyman, Tony Revolori and Amar Chadha-Patel), the fact that it doesn’t succumb to some pre-established lore, , and its emphasis on the characters hanging out with and getting to know each other (something that plagued “American Graffiti”). It’s also, unsurprisingly, very weird—like from the very first episode.
It was something Kasdan and his producer Michele Rizwan wanted to emphasize that was always part of the show and something they always wanted to lean into. It was baked into the “coming-of-age” DNA of the show, Kasdan said, the messiness of a time in your life when you’re trying to figure out what and who you are. What makes the scene so fresh and undeniably real in the first episode is that a young knight (played by Kellyman) and a princess (stunning newcomer Ruby Cruz) seem to be smitten by their chemistry and charm. Like everything else in the show, it’s an absolute delight.
Kasdan and Rezvan cited a scene from a later episode for my viewing: it’s a “kick-ass training montage,” which Kasdan wrote into the script as something “everyone was here to see.” and this includes Willow training Elora but also Princess Kit and Knight Z training (“And this time I don’t want you to hold back”). The sequence is fun and exciting, with a flirtatious edge to Kit and Jade’s training yet still dangerous. And the best part? It is set to a modern day pop song. (The whole series features great music, including some great covers and a new score by James Newton Howard that incorporates original themes and instrumentation from the late James Horner.)
Of course, the biggest question for “Willow,” especially for fans of the original film: Will Val Kilmer return?
The answer is a bit more complicated than you might expect, as Kasdan explained. It was their full intention to bring Kilmer back, as he was brought back in “Top Gun: Maverick” earlier this year, but shooting conditions in Wales and Kilmer’s health issues made that impossible. Instead, he cast Christian Slater as a stand-in for Kilmer’s evil character Madmartigan. “We got the go-ahead from Vail,” Kasdan told me. This new character “embodies that spirit,” he said. Should the series continue, they would love to have Kilmer return. “We kept him alive, he is there,” Kasdan said.
Looks like this could be a great find for the crew of “Willow” going into the second season. We even have a whole subtitle – “The Search for Madmartigan.”
