Willow Trailer: Disney+ Continues Lucasfilm’s Fantasy Epic
A hero in a George Lucas film went on a mission long ago in a galaxy far, far away. That quest isn’t the one I’m talking about; it’s a separate one. We’re getting our first significant look at a new streaming series based on one of Lucas’ other epics, “Willow,” amid the tidal flow of news from Star Wars Celebration. Lucas produced the film, which was directed by Ron Howard, a rising star at the time. The fantasy will now be followed up with a Disney+ series.
The first trailer for “Willow” picks up years after we last saw the hero, sorcerer Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis). To refresh your memory, Willow defeated the black sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) and saved the prophecy-bound baby Elora in the 1980s blockbuster. The first trailer for the series may be seen below.
Several elements from the original “Willow” appear to be returning in the new film, despite the fact that it will mostly feature a new cast. Kathleen Kennedy (who didn’t work on “Willow,” but did produce a number of similar ’80s films with Steven Spielberg) is also on board as an EP. The show was also shot in Wales, which is where the first “Willow” got its lush, green setting.
New cast members for “Willow” include Erin Kellyman (“The Green Knight”), Ellie Bamber (“Les Miserables”), Ruby Cruz (“Mare of Easttown”), Tony Revolori (“Spider-Man: Far From Home”), Dempsey Bryk (“Black Mirror”), Amar Chadha-Patel (“Alladin”), and Talisa Garcia (“The Girlfriend Experience”). Last November, the new cast was presented in a sardonic “Meet the Cast” video for Disney+ Day, in which Revolori joked that “Willow” was his “second-favorite epic adventure, behind ‘Lord of the Rings.'”
Despite the fact that nostalgia-driven revivals are a dime a dozen these days, I can’t help but pull for the “Willow” franchise, especially when the film itself is like the less-loved little brother of “Star Wars.” The picture was considered as derivative by some in a period overflowing with fantasy adventure films, and it never made as much of a box office splash in the United States as it did in overseas markets. Despite this, “Willow” was a game-changer in a number of ways, from the casting of several performers with dwarfism as heroes to the utilisation of a then-unheard-of technique known as digital morphing.
