It’s been a rollercoaster week for Willow fans. A few days ago, reports emerged that the Disney+ sequel series to Ron Howard and George Lucas’s 1988 fantasy movie was being cancelled after just one season on the streaming service. But in a lengthy statement, showrunner Jon Kasdan has spoken out about what’s actually happening with the show – and it’s more complicated than a simple cancellation. The good news is, there may still be plenty more story on the way. You can read the full three-part statement here, but in essence, Kasdan states that the show isn’t going straight back into production. But, he says, it’s “absolutely not” the case that future episodes will never be made – with plans for ‘Volume II’ (and seemingly more beyond that).
“A decision was made last week to release our main cast for other series opportunities that may arise for them in the coming year,” he writes. “With all the TV and movies in production around the world, it feels unfair to limit an actor’s availability without a clear sense of when you’re going to need them again. It’s further triviliased by the simple reality that the scripts we’ve been working on require just as many actors with whom no such contractual hold exists.” As Kasdan points out, there’s an industry-wide slowdown on streaming series production at the moment, and Willow won’t be shooting in the 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 is a brain-meltingly fun, richer, darker and better VOLUME II, which builds on the characters and story of our first eight chapters (The Wyrm survives!)”
There’s plenty more context and explanation in Kasdan’s full statement – but it closes on something even more hopeful for fans. An image of a bookcase, with leather-bound spines not only showing a ‘Volume I’ and a ‘Volume II’, but also ‘Volume III’. “The little movie I love called Willow,” points out Kasdan, “didn’t get its well-deserved sequel for 35 years.” There may be more magic left in the tank, then…