Willow creator Jon Kasdan remains hopeful that we will see a second season of the fantasy series, following news that it is ending, at least for now. Kasdan took to social media Thursday to reassure fans that a Season 2 has been written and he has every hope that it will eventually air, but not for at least the next 12 months.
“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 wrote, taking issue with Deadline’s and other online reports of the series ending. He added that he feels “fairly confident that, if asked, neither I, nor the folks at Lucasfilm, would or have actually characterized it” as a final cancellation.
As Deadline noted, while the series won’t continue in its current form as the cast has been released, Willow remains an important IP in the Lucasfilm library, so it may be revisited in the future.
“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,” he explained. “It’s further trivialized by the simple reality that the scripts we’ve been working on require just as many actors (from our first season) with whom no such contractual hold exists. Nothing prevented Annabelle Davis, for example, from taking another show, but you better believe Mims appears in every single Volume II chapter.”
Citing a slowdown in the production of streaming shows across the entire industry, Kasdan noted that Willow “won’t resume filming in the next 12 months.”
You can read Kasdan’s entire statement in the tweets below.
Based on the 1988 fantasy film directed by Ron Howard, Willow introduced new characters and was set in a world where brownies, sorcerers, trolls and other mystical creatures flourish. An unlikely group of heroes set off on a dangerous quest to places far beyond their home, where they must face their inner demons and come together to save their world.
Ellie Bamber, Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, Amer Chadha-Patel and Tony Revolori starred alongside Warwick Davis, who reprised his title role as Willow Ufgood.
Kasdan wrote the pilot and served as co-showrunner alongside Wendy Mericle; Howard and writer Bob Dolman. Kathleen Kennedy and Michelle Rejwan also served as executive producers.
