Jon M. Chu To Direct ‘Willow’ Pilot For Disney+
by Erik Amaya
The other aspects of the Lucasfilm library are finally getting their due.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, versatile director Jon M. Chu will direct the pilot of Disney+’s upcoming Willow series. The project has been in works for sometime with Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s Jonathan Kasdan and Arrow‘s Wendy Mericle as showrunners. But the arrival of Chu means the series now has a green light on the Disney-branded streaming service. All three will serve as executive producers alongside original Willow director Ron Howard.
The film told the story of Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), a farmer-turned-magician chosen to save the infant Elora Danan from an evil witch. The film also featured Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley and Jean Marsh. The series will be set decades after the film and see Davis return as an older Willow.
“This isn’t a nostalgic throwback, it’s a creative lean-forward and it’s a blast to be a part of it all,” Howard said in a statement.
Presumably, the series will be something of a departure from Chronicles of the Shadow War, a series of Willow follow-up novels plotted by George Lucas and written by X-Men‘s Chris Claremont. In those tales, the focus switched to Elora Danan. Now a petulant teen, she chafes under the weight of her destiny and seems more a spoiled brat than the legend Willow was told she would become. But as her realm is threatened by The Deceiver, Willow returns to her side with a new name, Thorn, while Kilmer and Whalley’s characters are killed off early in the first novel.
As with all new project announcements, it is unclear how quickly Willow will go into production. Although, Disney’s recent reorganization into a “streaming first” production system may shift this into high gear. Despite the return of The Mandalorian next week and the December debut of WandaVision, Disney+ is still low on original scripted material utilizing its various brands. The new focus on the service will no doubt alleviate this problem once the film and TV world gets back to a more normalized production environment.
