Willow show not really dead, because nothing dies anymore, Willow showrunner asserts
Jon Kasdan asserts that the Disney Plus series is merely paused, despite releasing its cast from their contracts
Aux News Willow
Earlier this week, reports broke that Willow—the streaming TV continuation of Ron Howard and George Lucas’ 1988 fantasy epic—had been canceled after a single season on the air at Disney+. Now, though, series showrunner Jon Kasdan has pushed back on those reports, asserting, basically, that in a world where Willow can get revived on technology that didn’t even exist when it first hit theaters, who can even say what “canceled” means anymore, anyway?
In a long letter posted on Twitter this week, Kasdan does concede the basic point that kicked off reports of Willow’s death: The release of the cast from their contracts, which typically signals that a show has no plans to move forward on production any time in the near future. Which is also the case with Willow: Acknowledging that “Due to forces much larger and more intricate than I would ever pretend to fully understand, production of streaming shows is slowing down across the entire industry,” Kasdan admitted that “Willow won’t resume filming in the next 12 months.”
But despite all that, Kasdan insists this is just a pause, and not a true cancellation, because what’s 12 months, anyway? “Three weeks ago,” he writes, “We got a third season of Party Down, 13 years after season two. Between season 2 and 3 of Atlanta? 4 years. Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons 8 and 9 had a hiatus of 6 years.” Which does ignore the much higher percentage of shows that go on “hiatus” and, uh, stay there, but Kasdan does suggest that he has at least some continuing support from Disney and Lucasfilm. (Who, to be fair, haven’t issued one of those “We were so happy to have worked with you” press releases that are typically the death knell for a TV show.) Kasdan also reportedly has a full bushel of scripts for Willow Volume II, which was promised (alongside Willow Volume III) in the opening moments of the streaming series.
31 Comments
Well, best of luck finding someone who wants to pour tens of millions down a big hole in “the current climate.”
Elon Musk: (Squiggy voice) HELLO!
I wish I could say the cancelation was unexpected, but the reality is that while it showed some promise (the second half in particular), it wasn’t a very good show.
Hey now, I’m sure it would have really hit its stride in season 5.
That makes sense because it wasn’t a very good movie either…
I noticed the letter promised Mims would be in every episode of Volume II (which would be welcome), but as I believe the actress has recently been cast in a soap I imagine that alone would have made filming this year difficult. And given she’s Warwick Davies’ real-life daughter it would probably be a bit awkward to recast her… not that I’m saying this is the main reason for the “hiatus”.
Good.
I look forward to more of Willow’s brand of fun, whatever form that might take.
It’s a quirky show, and I hope it gets a Season 2 before too long.I agree with his tweet about streaming network production slowing down. Inflation isn’t going to make luxuries like streaming gain subscribers, and the content providers are adjusting to that reality. You just hope less quantity leads to more quality.
No one’s ever really gone.
Reports of Willow’s cancellation were fantastic.
Ughhhhh…take your Star
“[R]eleasing its cast from their contracts”.*Disney executive drives Amar Chadha-Patel to the forest and lets him out of the car*“Go on now. You’re released from your contract. Go be free.”*Chadha-Patel looks on in silent confusion*“Now, don’t make this harder than it has to be. Just get on out of here! Go on, get!”
But like surely if the cast are released from their contracts they’ll all go and become regular castmembers in other shows, making it even harder to ever get them all together again? Seems like he’s just being really hopeful.
Party Down came within an ace of pulling it off but those people always had mad skills.
“Red Letter Media” ew
Rant.I liked this show. The cast was great. But with a cast this young and fabulous (they all should have horror movies calling their agents – all three female leads are “final girls” if nothing else) and season two of ALL the D+ shows taking a year and a half at least, it would be kinda crazy to keep them all under contract for two years. Marvel is really being crazy. She-Hulk maybe renewed … new episodes in three years (at least on the calendar I saw somewhere). You know they have Chloe Benett and Clark Gregg under contract still. Ming Na – just cause. Krysten Ritter. They released Oscar Isaac wink wink. You know how to tell who’s still under contract? It’s the actors and actresses that can’t talk about it. Marvel’s got a stable of like 100 – half of whom seem like they’re around “just in case.” Then after a similar but to-a-lesser-degree Star Wars, its no wonder Big D would let the Willow kids go with a promise of “maybe.” If they were smart or if you pressed them, they would admit that basically all projects are out at two years plus on the calendar, and really, everyone is free to go. Watch though, if Percy Jackson doesn’t come together, they’ll take another look at Willow. Really they should treat Willow and Percy Jackson as flipped stories – same production and run them in off-years from each other.I also wonder if the gay-girl angle freaked out the company what with Ron DiSanitarynapkin-ass breathing down their necks in Florida. “Can we build a Willow section at the park with cosplayers showing up?” … Not if the Kit and Jade cosplayers hold hands and kiss. “Not even if their love is barely PG-13?”Uh, no. We can not condone a Woke Willow.Which is sad because their growing attraction to each other was one of the series highlights. They were in love, and I believed it.
Erin Kellyman is already dead in the MCU, so at least they can’t get her. And she was part of an unpopular Star Wars movie too! What a great deal. She’ll just sit there unless James Gunn comes calling.
The Willow show isn’t dead, it just smells bad.
Now if only the Willow budget could have went to a third season of The Mysterious Benedict Society instead. It didn’t get much press (and I know it cost a lot), but it was a perfect gateway show for my tweens for more quirky, interesting fare in their coming teenage years.
Jon Kasdan and Jake Kasdan are like DeVito and Schwarzenegger in twins but with talent
You mean *without* talent.
You mean without *scabies*.
It was a surprisingly fun show. A non-tied-into-another-media-property fantasy world that’s kind of goofy and yet epic? I’m still surprised Disney was capable of making it in the first place.
Haven’t watched the show yet but how can you not like a guy who writes a statement like that? Cool dude and a nice change from the usual social media jadedness.
I waited over thirty years for [Picard S3 spoilers]. I can wait patiently for season two of this batshit show.
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Ugh. Just as the term dies down, the *poster boy* for nepo-babies has to rear his untalented head and remind us that they live in a literal pampered fantasy world where they believe their own b.s. …. and expect us to, too.