Anyone with a passing interest in episodic fantasy lives permanently in the knowledge that the axe is dangling perilously overhead at all times, so nobody was really all that surprised when it was announced that Disney Plus sequel series Willow had been unceremoniously axed after a single season.
In fact, the most shocking thing about it was that an effects-driven adventure full of magical mayhem and colossal creatures had been canned by a platform that wasn’t Netflix, given the rival on-demand outfit’s penchant for booting anything off the airwaves that failed to appease the almighty algorithm.
That being said, one person who was left rather perplexed by news of Willow‘s swift demise was creator and showrunner Jake Kasdan, mostly because he says it isn’t true. Taking to Twitter to offer an impassioned defense, the filmmaker outlined that just because Willow won’t be returning anytime soon, it doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t ever be seeing the show again.
Basically, everyone contracted to Willow has been let go and is free to do whatever they want for the next year without fear of being called back to the cavernous soundstages required to bring the world to life.
No offense intended to Kasdan, but it sounds as if his brainchild is hanging on by a thread if we’re being perfectly honest, because the television landscape moves so fast that it’s doubtful the Mouse House will be willing to invest such vast sums of money into a second season 12 months from now, especially when the first run hardly set the world alight in terms of its viewing figures and indenture into the public consciousness.