Willow Season 2 Coming Back Even Though The Show Was Canceled?
The Willow series developer says that the Disney+ show has not been canceled, reporting that Season 2 is just delayed.
Recently, the news broke that Lucasfilm had canceled its Disney+ series, Willow. That would pretty much exclude the possibility of there being a Willow Season 2, right? Well… it’s complicated. The show’s creator, Jonathan Kasdan, wrote on Twitter today that the show has not actually been canceled after all: in his words: “neither [he], nor the folks at Lucasfilm, would or have actually characterized it quite that way.”
So… what does that mean? Well, according to Kasdan, the show’s core cast members were all let out of their contract because Willow Season 2 would not start shooting within the next year. That means they are free to do other projects. It does not, according to Kasdan, mean that the show is canceled.
He went on to say that some of the scripts for Willow Season 2 have been written already and that it is “absolutely not” the case that they will never actually be put on film. He compared this situation to other shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Atlanta, which notoriously returned after being off the air on a hiatus for a long time (not canceled, he emphasizes. Just on hiatus).
Willow was the first project by Lucasfilm to be (allegedly?) canceled by Disney+. The show is a continuation of the film Willow, which was released in 1988. While Disney+ did announce that they were not renewing the series, they didn’t give a reason for it. The buzz seems to be, though, that the “cancelation” of Willow Season 2 has something to do with the platform’s recent cost-cutting measures.
With all of its fantasy elements, Willow is pretty expensive to film (and it’s not a part of its cash cow Marvel franchise), so it makes sense it would be on their chopping block.)
As far back as the end of 2022, Willow Season 2 seemed to be in trouble. On Twitter, Kasdan seemed to imply that Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, was not really ready to give a second season a shot even while the first season was airing. He said that he was “begging” her to greenlight it because the actors and the crew loved their experience making the first season and because he had a lot of story left in him, but in the end, it appears that she might not have been convinced.
Fans were still hopeful, though, as Ron Howard, who directed the original movie and executive produced the series, spoke out about wanting to direct some episodes of Willow Season 2. While he wanted to be a part of this project, he had been too busy with other ones to direct any episodes of the first season, so he wanted another chance.
So… will he get one or not? To be honest, we are pretty confused, as are most Willow fans. The series was not renewed by Disney+, but this apparently doesn’t mean that we will never see a Willow Season 2. It just means that we won’t see it this year.
For now, you can stream (or re-watch) the eight episodes of Willow Season 1 and make up your own mind about whether or not you think it should come back for Willow Season 2.
