Disney Plus’ Willow isn’t canceled, just paused for at least a year, says producer
Following a Deadline report that Disney Plus had canceled Willow, the TV series based on George Lucas’ 1988 fantasy adventure, show producer Jon Kasdan has tweeted a correction. “Neither I, nor the folks at Lucasfilm, would or have actually characterized it quite that way.”
According to Kasdan, Willow isn’t dead, just sleeping.
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Kasdan’s thread continues for two more tweets as well, noting the general slowing of production across the entertainment industry, but especially streaming, and the logistics of scheduling around your cast’s commitments.
“The truth is less splashy [than cancellation],” he writes, “but here it is: A decision was made last week to release our main cast for other series opportunities that may arise for them in the coming year. With all the tv and movies in production around the world, it feels unfair to limit an actor’s availability without a clear sense of when you’re going to need them again.”
According to Kasdan, season 2 of Willow is, if not completely written, significantly planned out, and some characters with small roles in the first season, like Annabelle Davis’ Mims, will have much larger ones in the new. But since their initial contracts didn’t include so much season 2 work, they’re now busy with other projects.
“Due to forces much larger and more intricate than I would ever pretend to fully understand,” Kasdan says, “production of streaming shows is slowing down across the entire industry, and Willow won’t resume filming in the next 12 months. But here’s what’s equally true: with the enthusiastic and unwavering support of Lucasfilm and Disney, we’ve developed and written what we hope is a brain-meltingly fun, richer, darker and better VOLUME II, which builds
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