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Willow is an American fantasy adventure television series based on and serving as a sequel to the 1988 film of the same name. Warwick Davis, the original actor of Willow Ufgood in the 1988 film, reprised his role for the show. Val Kilmer was unable to reprise his role as Madmartigan and his son Jack Kilmer voiced a cameo appearance of the character instead. Produced by Lucasfilm, the series was mostly filmed in Wales in April 2021, and premiered on the streaming service Disney+ on November 30, 2022.
In March 2023, the series was canceled after only one season, though Jonathan Kasdan stated that the series was on hiatus. Kasdan noted that Season 2 had already been written and expressed his hopes that it would be made. Reporters noted that the cancellation occurred as media companies, including Disney+, were seeking to reduce costs for streaming content in order to increase profitability.
The series was removed from Disney+ on May 26, 2023, amidst a Disney+ and Hulu content-removal purge, as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative under Disney CEO Bob Iger.
It has been more than twenty years since Queen Bavmorda was defeated. Six unlikely heroes set off on a dangerous quest to places far beyond their home, where they must face their inner demons and come together to save their world from the forces of evil: the Gales, who work for the Crone and are allies of the Wyrm.
Val Kilmer appears as Madmartigan via archive footage from the Willow film. His son Jack Kilmer provided Madmartigan's voice in "Prisoners of Skellin" and "Children of the Wyrm".
Additional voices provided by Flula Borg, David W. Collins, Terri Douglas, Robin Atkin Downes, Katrina Kemp, Arif S. Kinchen, Risa Mei, Mark Povinelli, Moira Quirk, Helen Sadler, Julian Stone, Fred Tatasciore, Sam Witwer, Matthew Wood, Danny Woodburn, and Shelby Young.
Discussions about a continuation of the film began as early as 2005, with Warwick Davis reiterating his interest in returning in multiple interviews. During a May 2019 interview with an MTV podcast, Ron Howard, director of the 1988 film, revealed he had been approached by Jonathan Kasdan about rebooting the film as a television series at Disney+.
In October 2020, the series was greenlit, with Jon M. Chu directing the pilot episode and Davis reprising his titular role. Chu would announce that he had to step away from directing duties due to a production delay and personal reasons in January 2021. Later that month, Jonathan Entwistle was hired to replace Chu as director of the pilot, and as executive producer. However, due to production delays as a result of a recasting, Entwistle also exited the series, with Stephen Woolfenden coming in to direct the first two episodes of the series.
In March 2023, Disney+ canceled the series after only one season. Kasdan stated the cast had been released from their contracts due to the shifts going on at Disney but that there is hope that the series could still pick up at some point in the future. As part of cuts being made at Disney, the show was one of many removed from Disney+ streaming service in May 2023.
In November 2020, Erin Kellyman, Cailee Spaeny and Ellie Bamber entered negotiations to join the cast. In January 2021, Tony Revolori would enter negotiations to join the cast, which was now confirmed to include Kellyman, Spaeny and Bamber. Revolori would be confirmed to join the cast in March, along with the recasting of Spaeny with Ruby Cruz. Amar Chadha-Patel would join the next month. By November 2021, Ralph Ineson was added to the cast. In April 2022, Talisa García and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers were cast, with Garcia starring as Revolori's character's mother, marking the first time a transgender actor has appeared in a Lucasfilm production. In May 2022, Joanne Whalley appeared at the Lucasfilm panel at Star Wars Celebration, revealing that she would be reprising her role as Sorsha from the original film. At the D23 Expo in September, Kevin Pollak was revealed to be reprising his role from the film, with Christian Slater also being announced as part of the cast.
Val Kilmer was unable to participate in filming to reprise his role as Madmartigan due to his recovery from throat cancer and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but Davis and Kasdan stated in May 2022 that his character would still be involved "in a big way". Although he had lost full use of his vocal cords because of his throat cancer, Kilmer still initially recorded Madmartigan's lines. This was then used as a guide track for his son Jack, who duplicated his father's voice in the same way that he did in their 2021 documentary film Val.
Production for the series began in June 2021 in Wales, with Dragon Studios near Llanharan being used as a location. During production, five stages totalling 28,000 square feet were constructed at Dragon Studios. The set for Tir Asleen Castle was built on a six acre lot at Dragon Studios. In addition, a set for the "Immemorial City" was constructed at Dragon Studios, which drew inspiration from Blade Runner 2049. Lucasfilm also built 20 additional buildings around Dragon Studios for the purposes of creature creation, puppeteering work, special effects constructions, and costumes. To comply with local COVID-19 pandemic health and safety guidelines, these buildings were built with substantial space and ventilation.
In addition to Dragon Studios, filming took place at 32 locations across Wales including Pendine Sands, Morlais Quarry, Merthyr Mawr, Neath Abbey, Snowdonia, and Holyhead. For the production, Lucasfilm received funding from Creative Wales to hire 25 trainees for six months. Lucasfilm also hired 335 full-time crew members including 206 Welsh citizens. Due to a determined effort to hire local crew in senior roles, 17 of the 29 production departments were led by Welsh citizens. Non-Welsh crew were also paired with Welsh citizens. Significant post-production work also took places in Wales.
The score for the series is composed by James Newton Howard and Xander Rodzinski and includes the themes from the film composed by James Horner.
A trailer of Willow was released at Star Wars Celebration on May 26, 2022. A second trailer and official poster were released at the Disney fan expo D23 on September 10, 2022. The D23 expo also featured a panel consisting of several Willow cast members including Davis and Slater. On November 1 during the Lucca Comics & Games 2022, a part of the first episode and exclusive video clips of the series was shown in world premiere in the presence of actors Ellie Bamber, Erin Kellyman and Amar Chadha-Patel.
According to the streaming aggregator JustWatch, Willow was the third most streamed television series across all platforms in the United States during the week of December 5, 2022, to December 11, 2022. According to Whip Media's TV Time, Willow was the sixth-most streamed television series across all platforms in the United States during the week of December 11, 2022, during the week of December 18, 2022, and during the week of December 25, 2022, the fifth during the week of January 1, 2023, and during the week of January 8, 2023, and the sixth during the week of January 15, 2023. According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, Willow was the sixth most streamed program across all platforms in the United States during the week of December 14, 2022.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 84% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on 67 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Expanding on the saga while leaving plenty of room for callbacks to the original, this series-length sequel should satisfy fans who've been patiently waiting for more Willow." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Helen O'Hara, writing for Empire Magazine, said that the show "relies far less on nostalgia and more on expanding the world of the original film to encompass new complexity and new identities among all these daikinis, and that's a real treat." Alan Sepinwall, writing for Rolling Stone, called it "entertaining in bursts, but uneven overall."
Willow was nominated for Outstanding New TV Series at the 34th GLAAD Media Awards. It was nominated for Best Costume Design at the 2023 BAFTA Cymru Awards.
The series was also one of 200 television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2022 to 2023. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database IMDbPro for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production.
Willow received two nominations at the 22nd Visual Effects Society Awards.
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