The Disney+ action-adventure seriesWillowcontinues telling the story that began in the 1988 movie by following sorcerer Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), now High Aldwyn of the Nelwyn people, as he leads an unlikely group of young heroes facing danger. Set in a magical world where mystical creatures live, evil is always lurking and waiting for its moment to destroy what’s good, and it’s up to Dove (Ellie Bamber), Jade (Erin Kellyman), Graydon (Tony Revolori), and Boorman (Amar Chada-Patel) to help Princess Kit (Ruby Cruz) save her brother, Prince Airk (Dempsey Byrk).
During this press conference to promote the sequel series, Davis and executive producer/showrunnerJon Kasdantalked about returning to this world so many years after the film, the challenge of balancing what fans expect with telling a new story, what it was like for Davis to bring his kids to the set, the absence of Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), finding the humor, how this specific story evolved, and whetherGeorge Lucashad any direct influence on the project.
Question: Warwick, could you ever have imagined, 35 years ago, that you’d be where you are now, having done this newWillowTV series?
WARWICK DAVIS: Certainly not, no. Absolutely not. For years, it’s been talked about, not by anyone official, but by the fans. They’ve constantly pestered me, saying, “When are we going to see a sequel to that movie?” And it’s a question that I could never answer, until I met Jon Kasdan, who I understood was also a fan. I wondered, on the set ofSolo, who had let him onto a set with no fans allowed because he was obsessed, talking aboutWillow. I was like, “Surely we should be concentrating on making thisStar Warsstory here, shouldn’t we?
JON KASDAN: I wasn’t interested in that.
DAVIS: He just wanted to talk aboutWillow. It was decided that there should indeed be moreWillow, and so that was the catalyst for this project to happen, and it happened very quickly, in Hollywood terms. It wasn’t years and years of development. Before I knew it, I was on the set in Wales, for the very first day of filming, once again looking just like Willow, but a slightly older, more mature, better-looking version who was sexier.
Jon, was it as simple as Warwick makes out?
KASDAN: It was, in a lot of ways. There was the impulse between [Ron Howard], Warwick and myself to continue this story and return to this world. I came at it as a fan, and they came at it as the creators, and they found a champion in me. I kept fighting and hoping that we’d get a chance to go back here, and my ace was always that Warwick would be back and that he would look so attractive, and America and the world would really fall on their knees. I think everyone got that, and everyone appreciated that. There was something really special in the opportunity to bring this character back to the screen.
What do you think the appeal ofWillowis? What is it that we love so much about this world, these characters, and this story?
KASDAN: George entering the universe of fantasy, working in that genre is such an exciting thing. I remember the feeling of being eight years old and hearing that George Lucas was giving us a new franchise, and that it would have magic and wizards and sword fights, and it wasn’t calledStar Wars. That was a pretty unbelievable concept to an eight-year-old kid. For me, it was a miraculous thing that it hasn’t been developed more, and that it remained as this artifact from a certain time in my life, with all this potential for more stories and more adventures.
This series is an epic fantasy that’s also quite contemporary, at the same time. How difficult did you find getting that balance right?
KASDAN: That’s the challenge. With every episode, you’re walking the line between making it familiar and satisfying what fans expect from the brandWillow, and then trying to push it forward and tell a story that’s surprising and unexpected. The great weapon we had with us was Warwick, who just lent the whole universe ofWillowcredibility. The moment you see him on screen, you suddenly believe these six other foolish kids could somehow fit into that world and really inhabit it, and they did so, so beautifully and with such gusto and enthusiasm and authenticity. It was an amazing thing to watch it all come together and become something that feels like a progression from the movie as much as a love letter to it.
Warwick, what was it like to go back 35 years to recreate some of the places and moments from the movie?
DAVIS: For me, one of the most enjoyable things about the series were those callbacks to events that had happened in the film. When I, as a character, talk about those events, that was a really fun way of looking back at those things, and I think fans will get a kick out of. We also went back to locations and environments that we’d already been to in the film. In particular, Nockmaar was one of those particular places. That really gave me the shivers. There I was, standing or sitting somewhere that Bavmorda would have sat, and could still feel her presence in that area. That just shows you how powerful the film was, those settings, and also Jean Marsh’s performance.
Jon, what was your reaction?
KASDAN: There was an incredible thing that happened where we got our friend Kevin Pollak out to reprise his role as Rool. He told me, when he arrived, that he and Warwick had never actually done any scenes together because all of the brownie bits in the movie had been filmed at Skywalker in Northern California. Warwick and he got to actually riff off each other. It was quite an amazing thing to watch them actually interact, these old friends who didn’t know each other.
Warwick, what did it mean to you to bring your children to the set and see them experience the world ofWillowas you once did, as a young actor?
DAVIS: I remember the time I first showed [my son] Harrison the movie. At the time, he was about six. I left him in our living room watching it, and went and did a bit emailing and work. He came running through to my office saying, “Dad, dad, you’re in trouble. Are you okay?” I said “I’m fine.” At that time, I was being attacked by a troll on screen. So, it had a profound effect on Harrison, and he’s had counseling ever since. No. It was wonderful to have Harrison and my daughter Annabelle as part of the series. Annabelle plays Mims, Willow’s daughter, and she’s a brilliant actor in her own right now. We had a lot of fun playing the scenes together. Obviously, we’ve got that natural chemistry between us, which I think really shines in the scenes we have together. I’m immensely proud of her work. And also Harrison, for me, is the most perfect stunt and photo double. He stands the same height as I do, and he looks just like me. He’s slightly disappointed now that he’s never going to be recognized for the work he did because, as a stunt double and photo double, you should not be known, and you do not even exist. Poor old Harrison is not going to get any credit for this one.
KASDAN: I would come down from my office daily and see a line of people sitting there, and it would be Harrison [Davis], Ellie [Bamber], Erin [Kellyman] and Ruby [Cruz], and all of them would be on their phones texting, I assume each other. I’d say, “How’s it going? Why aren’t you guys shooting?” And they would just shrug their shoulders and be like, “We don’t know. We’re not the boss. You are.”
DAVIS: Harrison was texting me saying, “Can you get me out of this, dad? I’m not going to get any credit.”
Jon, Val Kilmer’s character from the movie, Madmartigan, isn’t in this series. How are you addressing his absence?
KASDAN: It was always going to be right at the core of the story we were telling, and it really had to be. Because we were telling a story that had so many young characters, and they were all searching for their identity, the search for Madmartigan and the question of what had happened to him was right at the heart of the story we were telling. We knew that it would be woven into this quest in a fundamental way, to see where he was and what had become of him and what he’d given up, particularly for Ruby’s character, Kit, and for Dempsey [Bryk]’s character, Airk, in order to do good. That question follows the whole season. We always knew that we wanted to pay it off, in one way or another, and we had a lot of ideas about ways to pay it off and ways to leave it open. Because Val himself wasn’t able to come out to Wales and work with us, we added this texture of a friend of Madmartigan’s, who could give us some clues about his whereabouts and deepened the mystery around what happened to him, in a way that only actually extended the story we were already telling. It was very satisfying, and it provided an opportunity for us to add a whole new element that we didn’t expect to the show. Madmartigan is still out there. I’ve had many conversations with everyone involved, and our feeling is that he’s out there to be found, should the day arrive. Warwick and I would both love to see him pick up that sword again.
DAVIS: Absolutely, yeah.
Warwick, what were the biggest challenges in bringingWillowback to the screen, for you?
DAVIS: For me, it was the physical challenges of the role. I remember, the first time round, when I was 17, it was physically quite challenging, with the difficult terrains and the harsh conditions in the mountains of New Zealand. But this time around, I’m now not 17 anymore. I’m 52, and there’s rough terrain, mud, and very unwieldy dialogue from Mr. Kasdan. All of those things were challenging. The young cast was great. They supported me and were immensely helpful getting me through the whole process. Also, there was the challenge of doing the original material justice. We wanted to do the very best job that we could and deliver a series that everyone could enjoy, be it the fans of the original or the new audience we hope to bring to this show. We had that in mind, the whole time. That can give you a lot of responsibility and bring a lot of weight to the whole thing. But nonetheless, the experience was a fun one. It’s one I look back on with great affection and fondness. What makes projects special are the people, not the material or the character. It’s the people you work with. We had this amazing ensemble cast we have here, Jon, our writer, and the various directors we had throughout the series as well, along with the creatives at the top of the ladder, namely Kathleen Kennedy and Ron Howard himself, presiding over everything. He was our Yoda, I suppose.
It’s fair to say that there’s a decent amount more humor in this series than perhaps there was even in the first film. Jon and Warwick, can you talk a bit about that approach?
DAVIS: It’s important that, that we took that ethos from the film and the humor. That’s what really set Willow apart from the other fantasy offerings of the ’80s. It could look at itself and laugh, and not take itself seriously. As well as being a great fantasy and sci-fi writer, Jon is also a very good comic writer, as well. He’d often say to me, “I’m going to go fullLife’s Too Shortwith this scene,” which meant he wanted it to be as funny as it could be.
KASDAN: Another one of the great gifts of getting to do this show now is that we all knew how great Warwick was in the movie, and his comedy is one of the most enduring things about it. He’s gone on to have this incredible career as a comedian with this wealth of material to look at for inspiration and reference. To come at this show with him, particularly in a different part of his life, where he has insecurities, fears, and a huge reputation to hold up, we just had a lot of fun with that, as a subject matter. It was a fun joke for all six of the actors around him to riff off of and to trust deeply in everything he said, while he didn’t really know what he was doing. That felt true to the spirit of the show, and what we wanted it to be. It’s also true to being a showrunner, frankly. You’re surrounded by people who are looking at you like, “You know what you’re doing, don’t you?” And you’re saying “Yeah. No. Kind of. Maybe.” That was something I was able to channel into writing forWillow.
Jon, is this storyline something that you long had in mind for the series? How did it evolve?
KASDAN: It evolved out of the conversations that Ron and I had on the set ofSolo. One thing we always knew was at the core of it was, what became of Elora Danan? We thought that was a subject with a lot of promise. The movie ended with a bittersweet moment of Warwick kissing this baby and then saying, “Okay, goodbye. I’ll never see you again.” As an eight-year-old, I was like, “What do you mean, they’re not going to live together, and they’re not going to have a life together? How is she going to find out about all this stuff that happened to her?” That felt like a great jumping off place for a series. We knew we wanted this question to be right in line with that. We knew we wanted this question about, who was protecting her, and was the best way to protect her not telling her who she was? That felt in line with a lot of George’s other stories about people discovering their unique heritage or specialness, as they go through their lives. With this particular show, which is so much about growing up, that seemed like a theme that made total sense to us.
How much input did George Lucas have? Did he have any advice for the project?
KASDAN: Warwick was actually present on the day that I had my one and only conversation with George about this project. He came and visited the set ofSolobecause he is devoted to Ron. They are dear friends in real life. They told us that he was going to come for just a moment, and we shouldn’t make direct eye contact or ask him any direct questions. Instead, he ended up staying for six hours and answering all our questions, and he was nothing but lovely. In that moment, when I found myself sitting next to this God of my childhood, I told him that I thought the one thing I thought that Lucasfilm really had an opportunity to do was to tell moreWillowstories. He smiled wryly and said that he couldn’t agree more, and that he had been trying to make that happen for quite a while. He was a supporter and an advocate for any of that which we could get off the ground. That faith and excitement and genuine boyish enthusiasm was really critical to feeling like this was something we could go off and do.
