It looks like the much-hyped Willow series on Disney Plus will not be getting a second season. The news came down today via Deadline that the eight-episode series will not be returning, which maybe shouldn’t count as a massive surprise given the recent focus from Lucasfilm on Star Wars shows. Willow was always a more niche title, and while critics mostly liked the show (our own critic Alex Maidy adored it), the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes was a mediocre 66%. Indeed, the show never really captured the zeitgeist in the way a series like The Mandalorian did, although fans hoped perhaps it would build up some cult status over time.
Of course, just because Willow won’t be returning for a second season doesn’t mean the saga is over, as it’s possible Disney could go back to the drawing board and revisit the property in some way. The series took place twenty years after Ron Howard’s original film and featured Warwick Davis reprising his role as the wizard Willow Ufgood. Joanne Whalley also returned as Queen Sorsha, while the baby that was in jeopardy in the original film, Elora, was present here (all grown up), but I won’t spoil her identity just in case any reader wants to go watch the show.
Ron Howard, who directed the original film, produced it along with Brian Grazer and Kathleen Kennedy. Jonathan Kasdan, the son of famed Raiders of the Lost Ark writer Lawrence Kasdan, was the showrunner. He’s primed to stay a major part of Lucasfilm, with him one of the writers on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
It’s a shame Willow won’t return, as while the show was inconsistent, it had a lot of promise and could have really improved had a second season been ordered and had maybe, at some point, Val Kilmer been able to return as Madmartigan. The series really suffered from his (understandable) absence.
Are you bummed Willow is one-and-done?