The fantastical world of Willow won’t be making a return at Disney+ as the streaming service has canceled the show after one season.
Despite ending with a tease of more to come, it looks like the story of Willow has come to an end, for now. Today brings word (initially reported by Deadline) that Disney has put the brakes on the series and canceled the show.
The fantasy series served as a sequel to the classic Ron Howard film of the same name, and introduced an all new cast of characters for fans to latch onto. Despite being generally well received by fans and critics, it looks like the numbers just weren’t there.
Personally speaking, the Willow series didn’t land for me, though I greatly appreciated many elements of it. The cast/characters were phenomenal and brought a natural chemistry to the screen you couldn’t help but be charmed by. Couple that with actually committing to the queer love-story at the center of things, and it certainly tried to carve its own niche.
The move isn’t necessarily a big surprise, however. All streaming services are cracking down on spending. Recently, Bob Iger specifically said they’ll be scaling back on projects and doubling down more on their existing franchises like Marvel and Star Wars. When The Mighty Ducks and Big Shot were canceled shortly after, the writing on the wall seemed pretty clear. Even so, considering Willow was a Lucasfilm IP, some were holding out hope it would be spared…Alas.
Who knows, maybe the franchise can find new life via books/comics to finish telling the story they started. Or maybe it’ll get another shot (maybe even a movie) to keep things going. For now, however, best console yourselves.
