Interview: Willow star Christian Slater discusses his role in the Disney+ series

Last Updated on January 23, 2023

Willow premiered decades after the original and brought a new sense of adventure and fantasy to George Lucas’ fantasy epic. Creator Jon Kasdan and the cast talked to us before the season premiered, but at that time we had not seen the role Christian Slater was set to play in the sequel to the 1988 film. Now, as the series has fully debuted, we know about Slater’s character, Allagash, and his key connection to Val Kilmer’s character, Madmartigan. I got the chance to chat with Slater about his role in the series and how his connection to Lucasfilm and Star Wars led him to this performance.

Check out the full interview with Christian Slater below.

Hi, Christian

Christian Slater: Hey, man. Good to see you.

I’ve been a big fan of your work for a long time. I am infinitely quoting Gleaming The Cube any chance that I get.

CS: Wow. Wow. Thank you.

That movie came out right after Willow hit theaters. Were you a fan of Willow when it first came out? Were you into the film?

CS: Yeah, you know, I had been working on Tucker: The Man and His Dream. We were in San Francisco and it was George Lucas producing it and it was unbelievable. They had a big screening of Willow. We were all very excited and the movie was great. That was just an amazing time. It’s like I was born at the right time. I was seven years old when Star Wars came out, and it just made such an impression on me. I mean, it really make an indelible mark in my brain and in my soul and the kind of entertainment I wanted to be involved with and the kind of energy and spirit that I wanted to bring to the projects that I get to work on.

I was 16 when Willow came out and then I got to go to Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. I was walking around and I saw the chess board from the Millennium Falcon and there was all this stuff we would’ve lost our minds about. If I could have like swiped something from there, it would’ve been so cool. T

That’s awesome.

CS: I mean, this is my world, you know? I really did feel like while I was there, I had found my tribe, my people. I mean, this is just the kind of stuff that I’ve always, always wanted to.

In your career, you haven’t really played too much in the fantasy genre. How did you get involved with being in this project?

CS: You’re right. Prior to this I had been working on Mr. Robot and that was such a there was a heaviness to that show. I mean, there was a darkness to it. And I’m all for that. That’s fun but it was a challenge and I like a challenge. But this was an opportunity to just try to bring some energy and some lightness and some spirit that I really wanted to contribute. And that’s the way John Kasdan kind of described it to me, who this character would be. We thought about who would Madmartigan have hung out with, you know, what kind of people. And I feel like Allagash is the type of guy that Madmartigan would’ve attracted into his life and onto his team and they would’ve had all kinds of adventures together. So, Allagash was already a little nuts and a little unpredictable. And you put somebody like that in a crow’s cage for ten years, that’s really gonna send him over the top. So, he was out of his mind. And, I like the type of character that can be a little offbeat and a little unpredictable.

It reminded me quite a bit, and I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but watching it felt like this was your Will Scarlet from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves if he were stuck in a crow’s cage for ten years.

CS: There sure were aspects of that, looking back on it, yeah. Will Scarlet was a guy who liked to make up songs too, from what I recall. Organically, I would look at some of the lines that I was given in this and and they just seem to rhyme so well that to add a tune to them would be appropriate. And that’s what we were able to do.

For everybody that just got a chance to watch the finale, at the end of the episode, it teases that there are two additional volumes coming to complete this story. Was that something that was brought up with you that there could be a return for Allagash in the next season?

CS: I mean, certainly. John Kasdan and I know exactly what we would like to do. Whether that is something we’re going to get the opportunity to do remains to be seen. I definitely loved working on it. I loved being involved in the Lucasfilm world. That was very entertaining. I mean, are there ideas? Of course there’s, there’s always ideas and always thoughts. I loved this cast. I thought they had great chemistry and and really arcs over eight episodes and developed into different people by the end. So, you know, we’ll see, we’ll see. It’s up to the higher ups, I guess.

Willow had an established cast and they had built chemistry over several episodes and Allagash shows up midway through the story. Coming into that, was it difficult to find a rhythm or that chemistry with everyone, or did it feel like it was a really easy group to join with?

CS: I felt like a very easy group to join with. Warwick Davis and I knew each other already. I remember I brought my kids to the set of Harry Potter and we hung out with Warrick for a little bit, so that was awesome. He and I did a production of Spam-A-Lot at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago, which was a blast. To get the opportunity to work together with him in this capacity was great. And, most of my stuff was with Ruby Cruz and Warwick. I loved Ruby, I thought she was great. I really enjoyed working with her. I thought she brought a nice energy to everything and her character was going through all these struggles and turmoils personally and internally while Allagash is kind of in his own little world, which I enjoyed.

Awesome. It’s been a blast talking to you and I hope we get to see more of Allagash in the future.

CS: Thanks, Man. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Bye, dude.

It remains to be seen if we will get those additional volumes of Willow but if you have checked out the great eight episodes available now, you know that this is a very cool series that carries on the legacy of the original. Hopefully we see volume two and more of Christian Slater as Allagash in the next year or so.

Willow‘s first season is now streaming on Disney+.