Screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan was born into Hollywood royalty. As the son of now-legendary filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi for Lucasfilm in the early 1980s, Jonathan grew up around the myth and magic of George Lucas.
But it wasn’t until he met actor Warwick Davis on the set of Solo: A Star Wars Story (which Jon co-wrote with his father) that Kasdan began to think his pitch for a sequel to Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy adventure Willow might actually become a reality. With the blessing of George Lucas himself and the greenlight of new Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, the series went into production and has now premiered on the Disney+ streaming service, and Jonathan Kasdan recently participated in a press conference with the cast to discuss how the project came to be.
The moderator of the press conference started things off by asking Jonathan Kasdan how the Willow series first got off the ground. “It was [simple] in a lot of ways. There was the impulse certainly between Ron and Warwick and myself to continue this story, and return to this world. I came at it as a fan, and they both came at it as the creators. They found a champion in me, and I kept fighting and hoping that we’d get a chance to go back [to this world]. My ace was always that Warwick would be back and that he would look so attractive and America– and the world– would really fall on their knees. I think everyone got that, and everyone appreciated that– that there was something really special in the opportunity to bring this character back to the screen.” Next Kasdan commented on keeping the series familiar to those acquainted with the original film. “That’s the challenge. With every episode you’re walking the line between making it familiar and satisfying– what fans expect from the Willow brand, and then trying to push it forward and tell a story that’s surprising and unexpected. And the great weapon we had with us was Warwick, who just lent the whole universe of Willow credibility. The moment you see him on screen, you suddenly believe these six other foolish kids could somehow fit into that world and really inhabit it… and they did so beautifully and with such gusto and enthusiasm and authenticity. That it was an amazing thing– to watch all these things come together and become something that feels like a progression from the movie as much as a love letter to it.”
Then Jonathan Kasdan talked about how the actual storyline for the Willow series was developed. “Well, it really evolved out of the conversations that Ron and I had on the set of Solo. One thing we always knew was sort of at the core of it was, ‘What became of Elora Danan?’ We thought that that was a subject with a lot of promise. The movie ended with a bittersweet moment of Warwick kissing this baby and then saying, ‘Goodbye, I’ll never see you again.’ As an eight-year old [when I first saw it, I was sort of like, ‘You mean they’re not going to live together and they’re not going to have a life together? How is she going to find out about all this stuff that happened to her?’ That felt like a great jumping-off place for a series. We knew we wanted this question right in line with that– ‘Who was protecting her? Was perhaps the best way to protect her not telling her who she was?’ That felt in line with a lot of George’s other stories, and a lot of things about people discovering their unique heritage or specialness as they go through their lives. And with this particular show, which is so much about growing up, that seemed like a theme that made total sense to us.”
And what about the question of what happened to Madmartigan, the character played by actor Val Kilmer in the movie? “It was always going to be right at the core of the story we were telling. It really had to be, because we were telling a story that had so many young characters, and they were all searching for their identity. The search for Madmartigan and the question of what had happened to him was right at the heart of the story we were telling, and we knew that it would be woven into this quest in a fundamental way, really– to see where he was and what had become of him, and what he’d given up. [It was particularly important] for Ruby’s character Kit, and for Dempsey’s character Airk, in order to do good. That question follows the whole season. We always knew that we wanted to pay it off in one way or another, and we had a lot of ideas about ways to pay it off and ways to leave it open. And one thing that happened, because Val himself wasn’t able to come out to Wales and work with us, was that we added this texture of a friend of Madmartigan’s, who could give us some clues about his whereabouts, and deepen the mystery around what happened to him in a way that only actually extended the story we were already telling. So it was very satisfying, and it provided an opportunity for us to add a whole new element that we didn’t expect to the show. Madmartigan is still out there, I have had many conversations with everyone involved, and our feeling is, he is out there to be found, should the day arrive [that Val Kilmer is able to return]. And I think Warwick and I would both love to see him pick up that sword again.”
Kasdan then touched on the comedy chops of Warwick Davis, and how the actor was able to bring humor to the role of Willow Ufgood. “It reall is another one of the great gifts of getting to do this show now. We all knew how great Warwick was in the movie… his comedy is, in a way, one of the most enduring things about it. But he’s gone on to have this incredible career as a comedian [in shows like [HBO’s Life’s Too Short], and this wealth of material to look at for inspiration and reference. [So] to come at the show again with him, particularly in a different part of his life, where he sort of has insecurities and fears and a huge reputation to hold up, we just had a lot of fun with that as a subject matter. It was a fun joke for all six of the actors around him to sort of riff off of, and to trust deeply in everything he said, while he didn’t really know what he was doing. That felt true to the spirit of the show and what we wanted it to be… and also true to being a showrunner, frankly. You’re surrounded by people who are looking at you like, ‘You know what you’re doing, don’t you?’ And you’re just saying, like, ‘Yeah, no, kind of, maybe.’ That was something I was able to channel into writing for [the character of] Willow.”
Then Kasdan was asked what the appeal of Willow is as a franchise. “I mean, George Lucas entering the universe of fantasy, working in that genre [was] such an exciting thing. I remember the feeling of being eight years old and hearing that George was giving us a new franchise, and this one would have magic and wizards and sword fights, and it wasn’t called Star Wars. That was a pretty unbelievable concept to an eight-year-old kid. For me, it’s sort of a miraculous thing that it hasn’t been developed more, and that it remains as this artifact from a certain time in my life, with all this potential for more stories and more adventures.”
But what of Willow creator George Lucas himself? What involvement, if any, did he have in the series? “It’s funny, I’ve been getting this question a lot. Warwick was actually present on the day that I had my one and only conversation with George about this project. He came and visited the set of Solo because he is devoted to Ron. They are dear, dear friends in real life. And they told us that he was going to come for just a moment, and we shouldn’t make direct eye contact or ask him any direct questions, and instead he ended up staying for six hours and answering all our questions, and being nothing but lovely. There’s a great picture of Warwick and George on that day, and he’s wearing one of those shirts that’s just like a George shirt, and you’re like, ‘This can’t be real. This is like an illustration of George and Warwick sitting in the Millennium Falcon.’ I said to him in this moment when I found myself sitting next to this god of my childhood, ‘The one thing I thought that Lucasfilm really had an opportunity to do was to tell more Willow stories.’ And he smiled wryly and said he couldn’t agree more, and had been trying to make that happen for quite a while. [He] was a supporter and an advocate for anyone that could get that off the ground, and that sort of faith and excitement and genuine boyish enthusiasm was really critical to feeling like this was something we could go off and do.”
The first two episodes of Willow are now available to stream, exclusively via Disney+.