A few days ago, it was reported that Willow was canceled after its first season on Disney+. This left many fans of the series (myself included) a bit disappointed, as it was nice to see the streaming service exploring something other than Marvel or Star Wars.
While we certainly won’t have Willow, series creator, Jon Kasdan, took to Twitter to deny the report and announce that Willow is not dead. Rather, it’s on hiatus as it navigates the Hollywood world and programming.
Kasdan said: “The truth is less outrageous, but here it is: the decision was made last week to free up our main cast for other series opportunities that may arise next year. With all the television and movies that are produced all across the world, it seems unfair to limit an actor’s availability without having a clear idea of when they’ll be needed again.It’s even more trivialized by simple reality than the scripts on which we worked require so many actors (from our first season) with whom there is no such contractual retention.”
Kasdan then picks up and adds, “If you’re wondering what this means to you as a viewer, or to me as a creator, here’s what I think it means: due to forces far greater and more complex than I never pretended to understand. Overall, streaming series production is slowing down in the industry and Willow will not resume filming for the next 12 months.
“But it’s just as true: With the enthusiastic and unwavering support of Lucasfilm and Disney, we’ve developed and written what we hope will be a richer, darker, better and more cerebral fun Volume II that builds on the characters and story of our first eight chapters (The Wyrm survives!).”
The detailed post goes on to add that Season 2 of Willow hasn’t entered pre-production yet, but that doesn’t “at all” mean it won’t happen.
What a relief (from us, at least). Long live Willow.