Directed by Ron Howard, based on a story by George Lucas, and starring a post-Top Gun fame Val Kilmer, Willow should have been a colossal success. And yet, as Warwick Davis puts it in the new issue of Total Film magazine, featuring Avatar: The Way of Water on the cover, the fantasy epic "wasn’t a huge hit in movie theatres, I’ll be honest."
However, thanks to the power of streaming – and an excitable cult following – a sequel to Willow is coming to Disney Plus in the form of a new TV series with Jon Kasdan (Dawson’s Creek, Solo: A Star Wars Story) acting as showrunner. The series will introduce a new group of characters, with Kasdan saying the series has "a very Breakfast Club-y feel to it."
"That was a big influence," he continues. "And My So-Called Life. Claire Danes brought to that show a sort of angst, confusion, awkwardness, longing... I was exactly the right age for that show, and when I made my first movie, In The Land Of Women [2007], I was looking for a girl like that and found Kristen Stewart, who brought that same kind of aching vulnerability. I knew that was an element I could write into this, that it would be funny to play it against Warwick’s ageing, grumpy sorcerer. So each of the kids brings some of that spirit to the show."
Below, we meet those kids – plus, see an exclusive image of Davis, who returns as Willow Ufgood in the series, itself taking place 20 years after the events of the original series.
Ruby Cruz (Kit): I play Kit, who’s a princess. She’s strong, strong-willed, confident, mouthy, stubborn... She’s a warrior at heart.
Dempsey Bryk (Airk): I’m a prince – Kit’s twin brother. And like the original [which featured a character with the same name], nobody on set knew how to pronounce the name. There’s a lot of things in this series where you’re continuing the legacy, but also trying to create something new and exciting as well.
Erin Kellyman (Jade): Jade is someone who’s grown up in the castle with Sorsha [Joanne Whalley] and Kit and Airk. They’re the only family she’s known.
Cruz: Jade and Kit are like partners in crime, partners for life. Kit is royalty, and sometimes that’s really suffocating for her. So I think Jade definitely helps ground her, someone Kit actually feels understands her.
Tony Revolori (Graydon): I play Graydon, a kind of bookworm who’s a little socially awkward. He’s got a lot of past trauma that affects him deeply, but he’s helped along by the people he’s on a journey with. We’re an unlikely team, brought together by Sorsha – who’s now the queen – for a quest we must complete to save the world. And Dove is the only person who’s not invited!
Ellie Bamber (Dove): I’m a kitchen maid in the palace. Dove is in love with the prince and tags along on this quest. Nobody wants her there... until they taste her stew. Then she’s allowed further on the journey. She’s a young woman discovering who she is.
Amar Chadha-patel (Boorman): There are similarities with certain introductions in the original film. My character is basically in a place that people shouldn’t be... [laughs]. It’s a fun intro, very mysterious. On a very base level, Boorman brings what Val [Kilmer] brought to the original, what Harrison Ford brought to Star Wars. He’s that archetypal rogue guy who fights and cracks jokes.
You can read much more from the cast of Willow in the new issue of Total Film, which hits stands (and digital devices) this Thursday, November 10. Willow premieres on Disney Plus on November 30.
And if you’re a fan of Total Film, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? You’ll have it delivered to your door before it’s in shops, you’ll save money on the cover price, and you’ll get exclusive subscriber-only covers. Plus, with the current offer you can get a free pair of EarFun headphones worth £55. Head to MagazinesDirect to find out more (Ts and Cs apply).
