One of the benefits of so many studios having their own streaming platforms was supposed to be that we would no longer lose access to content. Since the studio that owned the movie or TV show was the one offering it, there would be no worry of things disappearing due to the end of a licensing agreement. And yet platforms from Disney+ to Max have shown us this was never really the case, and Willow notably disappeared from the Disney streamer.
Over the last couple of years, we have seen plenty of content disappear from even the best streaming services, including shows and movies that were specifically created for streaming, and aren’t available anywhere else. One of those that felt that ax was the Willow series on Disney+, and more than a year and a half after the show vanished from the world, star Warwick Davis is honest in his frustration, calling it a “tragedy” on X (formerly known as Twitter):
This image just came up as a photo memory. A BTS shot from the #Willow Series. ???? It’s a travesty that @DisneyPlus value shareholders over subscribers in their creative decision-making. #Justsaying I only ever saw each episode once!???? pic.twitter.com/lA49jObIydDecember 11, 2024
Back when Willow was first pulled from Disney+, series writer Jon Kasdan put a surprisingly positive spin on the decision. It seems that over a year later the gloves are off, as Warwick Davis is quite critical of Disney seemingly putting shareholders ahead of the audience. Disney did reportedly save a lot of money by putting certain shows on the shelf.
It’s been about two years since Disney+ debuted Willow a Disney+ original series follow-up to the 1988 sword and sorcery film which starred Davis and Val Kilmer. While the movie wasn’t a massive hit, it became something of a cult classic and remained popular enough that talk of a Willow sequel movie never entirely died away. Eventually, the decision was made to do the follow-up series.
Despite the fact that the end of Willow teased multiple seasons, the show was canceled only a few months after it aired. That was bad enough, but then two months after that, the show joined a long list of projects that were purged entirely from Disney+. Since the show was developed directly for Disney+, it has never existed anywhere else. It can’t be purchased or downloaded through any other source.
As somebody who was a big fan of Willow, both the original movie and the series, I agree wholeheartedly with Warwick Davis. The series was a really fun follow-up to the movie. It had the classic fantasy elements but the Disney+ version of Willow had a rock 'n' roll vibe that was quite fun as well.
Cancelation is one thing. If not enough people watch a show, it gets canceled, and them’s the breaks. But to remove it entirely so that nobody can watch it again, and nobody has a chance to discover it for the first time, is a tragedy. There’s no other word for it. Warwick Davis would like to watch the episodes again. So would I.
