![\"Logo](\"http:\/\/vqt.nlm.mybluehost.me\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/thewrap-logo-e1586916472472.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWillow\u201d was one of the year\u2019s biggest (and best) streaming surprises.<\/p>\n
A sequel series to warmly remembered Ron Howard fantasy film from 1988 (also called \u201cWillow\u201d), this new iteration was developed by Jonathan Kasdan, who worked with Howard (and Lucasfilm) on 2018\u2019s \u201cSolo: A Star Wars Story\u201d and is, to put it lightly, a \u201cWillow\u201d super-fan.<\/p>\n
What made the show so much fun was that it didn\u2019t rely on an encyclopedic knowledge of the film\u2019s mythological underpinnings and never leaned too heavily on lore. Instead, all viewers needed to know (or remember) was that Willow (played once again by Warwick Davis) was a young sorcerer tasked with saving a baby from the forces of evil. Now Willow is an older sorcerer and the young baby has grown into an adult woman (played by English actress Ellie Bamber). Other characters might have a connection to characters from the movie, but everything is cleanly explained and always exciting.<\/p>\n
But the question remains: will \u201cWillow\u201d return for a second season?<\/p>\n
TheWrap spoke to Kasdan about what his plans are for the future of \u201cWillow\u201d and whether he knows if the show is coming back. Just a word of warning \u2013 it goes into specifics so consider this a massive spoiler warning.<\/p>\n
Every episode of \u201cWillow\u201d starts with a book opening and a new chapter title revealed (this last chapter was called \u201cChildren of the Wyrm\u201d). During the closing credits for the final episode, the shot cuts back to the book, which is now being closed. It\u2019s placed on a shelf and amongst others \u2013 the spine it reads\u201cVolume I.\u201d \u201cVolume II\u201d and \u201cVolume III\u201d are plainly visible. This suggests two more seasons for the show. Or does it?<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly have no idea. These shows take so long to make. And particularly in the machinery of a company like Lucasfilm, the attitude that I\u2019m presented with is, \u201cGet typing kid and we\u2019ll let you know if it\u2019s not happening,’\u201d Kasdan explained. \u201cI\u2019m proceeding with enthusiasm and excitement. We certainly have stories we\u2019d love to tell and we think there\u2019s a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Kasdan stresses, that the mid-credits scene was \u201cnot a tease of any kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy personality comes from movies and for me, that three-act structure is so ingrained in who I am, that when we got to the end of this season, it really felt like it was the first act of a movie,\u201d Kasdan explained. \u201cMy expectation as a viewer and as a fan is that when the stories begin, the narrator or author has some intention for where they might end and not an expectation that they\u2019re just going to go on forever, so they can keep adding additions to their house. My intent with this and as a fan first was that we were going to tell a story and it was going to be a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. And if it ended after one season, that was not what any of us were intending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of what made these final moments of \u201cWillow\u201d extra powerful was the fist-pumping needle-drop, which eschewed the season\u2019s proclivity towards modern covers of \u201980s classics and instead went with the real thing: Dire Straits\u2019 1985 single \u201cMoney for Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was going to be [the most] contentious drop of the season,\u201d Kasdan said. They actually attempted other songs for the sequence but none of them had the elemental force of the Dire Straits track. (And yes they did also consider having a modern band cover the song, too.) \u201cIt wasn\u2019t as powerful. It hits you in the depths of your belly somehow,\u201d Kasdan explained. \u201cAnd we that certainly was the overriding thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other thing that made the tune stand out was the lyrics (and, no, not the gross homophobic ones, which have mercifully been removed from the \u201cWillow\u201d drop) and how those lyrics related to the themes of the show. \u201cIf you read anything about the song was born out of him [Mark Knopfler] overhearing some guys talking in an electronic store. And the theme of it that always has stuck with me and been relevant to me is the idea of wanting the rewards without the work, and the thing that offers you that shortcut to the happiness that you want. It felt in sync with the promise of the Wyrm and this force that is the counterweight to all the responsibility and the heaviness that comes with being a hero. That\u2019s why it landed there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it really did give you a great note to end on, literally, something that Kasdan was very keenly aware of, especially if the show returns for future (now promised) \u201cvolumes.\u201d \u201cThe sensation that no other song or drop really replicated was [it] put the foot the pedal down as hard as you can,\u201d Kasdan said.<\/p>\n
As that guitar shreds, the camera cranes up and we get a look at one of the most iconic creatures from the first movie: the two-headed dragon known as the Eborsisk (named by original designer and genius stop-motion animator Phil Tippett for Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel). The dragon is one of Kasdan\u2019s favorite creatures, along with the Rancor (another Tippett creation) from \u201cStar Wars: Return of the Jedi.\u201d It also, once again, serves as a tease for what\u2019s to come. \u201cWe wanted to touch on it. But we knew it wasn\u2019t inherent to the story that we were telling this season. But it was inherent in the promise of \u2018Willow\u2019 as a world,\u201d Kasdan said. \u201cWe wanted to seed it in there in a way that promised that there\u2019s there\u2019s a bestiary of creatures out there and they\u2019re in service of darkness and some are in service of light.\u201d<\/p>\n
One question still lingering, going into the second volume (fingers-crossed) is the whereabouts of Val Kilmer\u2019s character Madmartigan and whether or not he\u2019ll make an appearance in future installments. (Vilmer was scheduled to be a part of the season but couldn\u2019t make the trip overseas to where the show was filming; his son Jack provides Madmartigan\u2019s voice in the show.) \u201cMy hope is and I think that this may be something that people have to speculate on to get to but I think it\u2019s even more specific than that,\u201d Kasdan said. Madmartigan is trapped in the dark realm of the Wyrm, where the series ends off, full of creatures like the two-headed dragon and other demonic forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is where he is \u2014 he\u2019s in there somewhere, down in that world. And whether we can find him or not \u2026 to be honest it\u2019s not even an open question. I know the answer,\u201d Kasdan teases. \u201cThere\u2019s the promise of more with Madmartigan; his influence in this world is too large to leave it where we\u2019ve left it. His story isn\u2019t over.\u201d In other words: pray for \u201cVolume II.\u201d<\/p>\n
View this article at The Wrap<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Willow\u2019 Showrunner Jonathan Kasdan on Season 2 Chances for Disney+ Series: \u2018We Think There\u2019s a Shot\u2019: \u201cWillow\u201d was one of the year\u2019s biggest (and best) streaming surprises. A sequel series to warmly remembered Ron Howard fantasy film from 1988 (also called \u201cWillow\u201d), this new iteration was developed by Jonathan Kasdan, who worked with Howard (and
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,63,38,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elsa-ramo","category-imagine","category-nicole-compas","category-the-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6078"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6080,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6078\/revisions\/6080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}