Star Wars Celebration is bringing plenty of news from a galaxy far far away, but sandwiched in there as part of the Lucasfilm Showcase segment was a little series called Willow. As a follow-up to the 1988 cult classic adventure flick, the new Disney+ series brings back Warwick Davis' Nelwyn sorcerer to help a princess save her twin brother 200 years after banishing the evil Bavmorda. With a new trailer out that captures the epic scope of the new series, new life is flowing through the franchise, and one of the individuals responsible is Jonathan Kasdan.
Kasdan, the son of legendary filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, is the series writer and executive producer for Willow and got to join Davis and Joanne Whalley on stage during the Lucasfilm panel, discussing how the film came together through his desire to see a continuation and the chance uniting of him, Davis, and the original film's director Ron Howard on the set of Solo. Thankfully for him, George Lucas was also a fan of the film and Kasdan jumped at the opportunity to come into the franchise.
The writer and producer spoke with Collider's own Arezou Amin about bringing the world he loved as a child back to life, and what it was like bridging the gap between fans who grew up with the film and new, younger audiences, saying that Willow has an advantage where its fellow Lucasfilm projects don't:
"I knew that Willow had an advantage that I don’t think Star Wars did, which is that…the McGuffin of the story is a baby. And so it begs the question: what happened to the baby? Where did that baby go? The show is really about that question and about answering it and how it affects the lives of all these different people and how that character and that savior sort of figures into the future history of the world, and that was what we were going to do, and that was what I pitched them from day one, you know. We get to see what that little girl grew up to become. And the question is, where does she fit into our story, and at what point?"
He also spoke about creating new characters for audiences young and old to love, and the importance of coming up with a character that could hold a candle to Val Kilmer's Madmartigan from the original film, while still being fresh, creative, and interesting:
"The thing of it was that I knew that I wanted to put, just like Warrick and Val made such a specific pair, and I knew you could never repeat that, so I wanted to give them five new types to interact with that were totally different and fun in their own way, and felt really contemporary the way Val felt really contemporary in 1988…these three women, coming in and assuming that role, it was the most fun."
This Willow, while still built on the same foundation as its predecessors, is a bit different in part due to the age of the characters. An older, wiser Willow Ufgood is now the one leading a new generation of heroes and has the responsibility of guiding them just as he was supported in the original. In a similar vein, Kasden, one of those kids who wore out the tape for the original film, is now ushering the world forward with the help of Wendy Mericle. Howard will be there too as a producer to help recapture the magic of the cult classic dark fantasy.
Kasdan is trying to carry the torch of Willow, bringing comedy and whimsical adventure alike to the series in this proper continuation. He has an excellent, young new cast, or, in his words at the Lucasfilm panel, "some annoying young kids that can bother him (Davis) for a little while," with Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, Tony Revolori, Amer Chadha-Patel, Dempsey Bryk, and Talisa Garcia joining Davis along with his real-life daughter, Annabelle Davis, as his on-screen daughter.
Willow comes to Disney+ on November 30.