“Willow” has been canceled after one season on Disney+

March 16, 2023

The show, starring Warwick Davis and based on the 80s fantasy film, debuted last November.

It seems that the magic of “Willow” has run out again. IndieWire has confirmed that the Disney+ fantasy series, a sequel to the 1988 Ron Howard film of the same name, will not be returning for a second season.

The news comes two months after the show, which premiered on November 30, ended its eight-episode run on Disney+ in January. Like the film, “Willow” was produced by Lucasfilm, which has been a major driver of Disney’s main streaming service through shows based on the “Star Wars” franchise; including ‘The Mandalorian’, ‘The Book of Boba Fett’, ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’, ‘Andor’ and the upcoming ‘Ahsoka’, ‘Skeleton Crew’ and ‘The Acolyte’.

Disney+ ended 2022 with 102.9 subscribers; an additional 61.3 million are in the ecosystem through Disney+ Hotstar.

The original ’80s film, directed by Ron Howard and executive produced by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, told the story of aspiring wizard Willow (Warwick Davis) as the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean) started to defeat. Marsh) before murdering an infant who was prophesied to bring about his downfall. The sequel also stars Davis as Willow, this time on a new adventure to save a prince, leading a group of six heroes. Other cast members included Ellie Bamber, Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, Tony Revolori, Amar Chadha-Patel and Dempsey Bryk.

“Willow” received relatively positive reviews when it debuted last fall, scoring an 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. IndieWire critic Steve Greene gave the show a “B-” grade, calling it a “messy fantasy story starter pack”. Greene wrote that “visually, thematically and spiritually, ‘Willow’ manages to carve out a space of its own, unattached to algorithmic genre expectations or the finer points of past decades’ plots.”

Jonathan Kasdan, whose previous credits include the script for the “Star Wars” spinoff “Solo,” wrote the series pilot for “Willow” and co-starred with “Arrow” writer Wendy Mericle. Howard returned to executive produce the series with original film screenwriter Bob Dolman, Lucasfilm executive Kathleen Kennedy and Michelle Rejwan. Imagine Entertainment, Howard’s production company, produced the series for Disney+.

Deadline was the first outlet to report that “Willow” had ended its run on Disney+.

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