Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar, we were lucky enough to participate in a press conference for the upcoming Willow series. The press conference was attended by Warwick Davis (Willow Ufgood), Erin Kellyman (Jade), Amar Chadha-Patel (Boorman), Ellie Bamber (Dove), Tony Revolori (Graydon), Dempsey Bryk (Arik), Ruby Cruz (Kit) & Jon Kasdan (Writer / Exec Producer).

During the press conference, Willow writer, executive producer and showrunner Jon Kasdan revealed how much George Lucas was involved in the new Willow series. Star Wars creator George Lucas originally conceived the idea and story for the original 1988 Willow movie.

Jon Kasdan said:

“You know, it’s funny, I’ve been getting this question a lot today, and Warwick (Davis) was actually there 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 (A Star Wars Story) because he is devoted to Ron (Howard), and they’re dear, dear friends in real life. And they told us sort of that he would be coming for just a moment and that we shouldn’t make direct eye contact or ask him any direct questions.

Instead, he ended up staying for six hours and answering all our questions, being nothing but lovely. And I sort of said to him at this moment when I found myself sitting there next to this god of my childhood, that one thing I thought Lucasfilm had the opportunity to do was to tell more Willow stories.

And he kind of smiled wryly and said he couldn’t agree more and had been trying to make that happen for quite a while and was a supporter and an advocate for any of that that we could get 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.”

There you have it, folks. Although George Lucas wasn’t directly involved with the production of the new Willow series, at least it seems like he gave it his blessing, which is a heartwarming thought for fans out there.

The synopsis reads:

The story began when an aspiring sorcerer, played by Warwick Davis, is whisked away on a journey to protect an infant empress Elora Danan and vanquish the evil Queen Bavmorda from their world of Andowyne. Now, the story continues with Davis reprising his titular role, as he leads an unlikely crew of heroes on a quest to protect Andowyne from an even larger foe than they had imagined possible. Willow also stars Ellie Bamber, Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, Tony Revolori, Amar Chadha-Patel, Dempsey Bryk, and Joanne Whalley.

Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar, we also received the opportunity to interview Dempsey Bryk (Airk) & Ruby Cruz (Kit). This interview has been edited for clarity. Stay tuned for the video version of the interview and our review of the series.

Willow is slated to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar on 30 November 2022, with subsequent episodes releasing every Wednesday.