Willow - Sequel Series Premieres November 30, 2022

Hey hey, you never know, Disney+ needs content!

 

A Willow 2 will be good. I'm for a good sequel.

 

I'd like to see a movie about an adult Elora Danan kicking @$$. Here she is from the Shadow War books:

 

Further development. Ron Howard and Jon Kasdan are in talks for a sequel series on Disney+. My god this would be phenomenal:

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/ron-howard-willow-disney-series-1203202706/

 

This is most excellent news!

Loved that it came straight from Ron Howard, and he mentions that Warick Davis would be involved in some capacity. Great to see Lucasfilm is exploring further projects, other than SW and Indy.

This really could be a good addition to Disney+.

 

Just started watching Life's Too Short with Warwick Davis, pretty solid bit "Why did he disguise my face? If you're paying good money for the actor Warwick Davis, then let the people see the actor Warwick Davis. George realised the error of his ways because he went on to cast me in Willow there. That film cost, I think it's 40 million, and has has made a lot of that back, since."

But yah this is practically a greenlight cuz Disney+ needs dat sweet content.

 

Might be their way to compete with Amazon's LOTR's stuff. But I never heard good things about the sequel books, especially when compared to the film. There was a lot of content cut from the film which I would like to see released as an extended DVD.

 

Oh please let this happen!! Disney+ is already stealing my heart and it hasn't even launched yet. Warwick Davis and guest spots by Val Kilmer (if not full time) on a TV series would be a dream come true. Nice way to test the waters for future Theatrical films based on the new characters in this beautiful mythology.

The fact that Howard and Kasdan already have Kennedy's ear is a VERY good sign. They've been talking about is filming began on Solo and DISNEY has been seaching for their own 'Lord of Rings' type series ever since 2001.

I have a good feeling about this...

 

Wow that's great news!

Side note: the girl in the drawing looks like Daisy Ridley.

 

I was thinking Brianna Hildebrand.

Willow may not be popular enough for a sequel film, but as a sequel series, I can see it working. I don't want to get too excited yet because most projects "in development" never see the light of day. But it's encouraging to hear that both Ron Howard and Jon Kasdan are gung-ho on this.

 

It would be interesting to see follow up stories to Willow. It's why I chased down the incredible sourcebook, and read through the Shadow War novel series. The Shadow War novels have their faults, there is no denying, and they are very challenging reads. There are some quite startling rewards as well, I felt. I still have hard copies, but I would love to see them made available as ebooks as well.

 

First a Dark Crystal mini-series, now possibly one for Willow... As far as the idea of bringing it back goes, I'm for it. Though I dunno about the idea of making it basically "the Elora Danon series" (the film is called WILLOW after all), especially with the idea of making her this grown warrior badass when she was just a baby in the film (wasn't Elora a redhead, btw?)

But if that's the case, at least have Willow play a big role. It could be cool to see an older Willow who's become a powerful wizard. There is some build-up for that.

 

Although I would say The Dark Crystal series also highlights a lot of the original films appeal, that it depended heavily on practical FX still. Yes there was some CGI but really you could argue that Willow was one of the last really big FX heavy blockbusters before CGI really took centre stage and visually I think its dated very well as a result.

Just as the Dark Crystal is using the same puppets again I wonder whether Willow might use FX like stop motion? I spose you could make the argument that CGI is now reaching the stage were it could recreate the look of that fairly well.

 

I love Willow. But why do so many filmmakers today try to ride the creative tailcoats of previous classics instead of producing new classics for the world to enjoy? How many more sequels or reboots for past fantasy/adventure films (featuring all of the aging original cast) are even left to make at this point? Maybe Hollywood needs to get off Twitter and get back to basics. Work on producing some groundbreaking original material.

 

Neither was Willow a huge success, nor is this project - if it should ever happen - some sort of quick cash-grab. If there ever was a case of someone being willing to make a sequel for the love of the story instead because of the money it will bring, this might be it.

I really don't see how anyone could use this as an example for what Hollywood is doing. This is a pashion-project that definately wouldn't get made if you applied Hollywood-standards. So why act as if this was telling anything about Hollywood?

I also don't see how something new couldn't possibly come from a sequel. Basically every story has been told in some form already, it's not like Star Wars or Indiana Jones were some great new inventions, they build a ton on old myths and stories. Creativity can exist in many forms, there is nothing that indicates that a new story with new characters is automatically more creative and groundbreaking than a new story with old characters.

 

I totally agree with you say in your last paragraph about all stories being influenced by various stories and myths throughout history. There's absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing from a variety of sources and stories to create something new and original. I just think this ongoing tendency to keep revisiting all these movies from the last 30-40 years and then getting the aging original cast onboard is becoming a tiresome, predictable strategy among studios. I can just imagine them sitting around their conference table brainstorming ideas: "Oh yeah, remember Willow?? That's one that hasn't been done yet, let's do a reboot!"

Oh, and anyone who was a kid in the 1980's will tell you Willow is definitely a classic. It might not have done well at the box office, but neither did a whole host of other fantasy films from that era. They are still classics to those who grew up with them.

 

The upcoming Dark Crystal show on Netflix looks like it comes from the same place.

 

If they do end up making this film and manage to pull it off, I will be the first to concede I was wrong. I wish them luck!

 

As long as there is a genuine vision and passion behind a project, then I'm fine with it in principle, even if I don't actually enjoy it. For example, Michael Bay's Transformers movies are terrible, but the man had a vision. Heck, he wouldn't even let the seriousness of the Pearl Harbor tragedy get in the way of his vision when he made that movie. In contrast, the teams behind Terminators 3, 4, 5 and the upcoming 6 have done nothing but reheat elements of T2 over and over and over and over again.

 

I know that it is a classic, but that doesn't change a thing. And it doesn't really matter a whole lot what those who grew up with it think about it. Delivering a sequel to Willow isn't anything Hollywood would normally do. It wasn't popular enough, most people won't know much about it, hardly anyone is asking for it. This screams "we won't make a lot of money" from the hilltops, which in turn means that studios would normally stay very far away from it.

Studios tend to go after well-known commodities. That's why you see a lot of sequels, sequels/reboots of big hits like Ghostbusters or decent-sizeds hit like Jumanji, or the Nth return to a famous character/monster (The Mummy, Godzilla, etc.) which hopes to count on name-recognition.

 

Fair point.

 

It'll probably just end up on the streaming service like the Dark Crystal thing on Netflix, right?

 

If done right, a series focused on Elora could make Willow look like The Hobbit compared to Lord of the Rings (the novels, obvs).

Don't base the series on the novels, though. Think of new & better stuff.

 

Just watched Life's Too Short and it turns out in the end Willow 2 is an embezzling scheme by Val Kilmer so watch out, guys!