It’s been a roller coaster week for willow Fans. A few days ago, reports surfaced that the Disney+ sequel series to the 1988 fantasy film by Ron Howard and George Lucas was canceled after just one season on the streaming service. But in a lengthy statement, showrunner Jon Kasdan opened up about what’s really going on with the show – and it’s more complicated than just a cancellation. The good news is that there may still be plenty more stories on the way. You can read the full three-part statement here, but in essence, Kasdan states that the series is not going straight back into production. But, he says, it’s “absolutely not” the case that future episodes will ever be made – with plans for “Volume II” (and apparently more beyond).
“The decision was made last week to free up our main cast for other series opportunities that may arise for them in the coming year,” he wrote. “With all the TV and movies in production around the world, it seems unfair to limit an actor’s availability without having a clear idea when you’ll need them again. It’s further trivialized by the simple reality that the scripts we’ve worked on require so many actors with whom no such contract exists. As Kasdan points out, there’s currently an industry-wide downturn in streaming series production, and willow will not be filming next year. “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 will be a fun, richer, darker, better VOLUME II that builds on the characters and story of our first eight chapters (The Wyrm Survives!)”
There’s a lot more context and explanation in Kasdan’s full statement – but it ends with something even more hopeful for fans. An image of a bookcase, with leather bound spines showing not only a ‘Volume I’ and a ‘Volume II’, but also a ‘Volume III’. “The little movie I love called Willow,” Kasdan points out, “didn’t get its well-deserved sequel for 35 years.” There may be more magic left in the tank, so…