The Real Reason Disney+ Canceled Willow
by Witney Seibold · /FilmRon Howard's 1988 fantasy film "Willow" was a striking hit when it was first released, mixing Tolkien-like wizard magic with traditional "Star Wars"-like story beats. The title character (Warwick Davis) was an innocent Nelwyn sorcerer who finds an abandoned human infant in his remote village. This infant was born with a mystical birthmark, implying that she would bring about the downfall of the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). The birthmark also explains why hellhounds seem to be on its tail. Willow decides to leave home and return the baby to her parents. Along the way, he'll fall into the company of a wisecracking criminal named Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), and several other co-adventurers besides.
The film was a notable hit, making over $137 million on a $36 million budget, although it wasn't a runaway success. It did, however, face still competition that year from films like "Big," "Rain Man," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," "Coming To America," "Twins," "'Crocodile' Dundee II," and "Die Hard." Nonetheless, "Willow" does have its fans, mostly among those who were kids when they first watched it in 1988.
To bank on its nostalgia, Disney+ and show creator Jonathan Kasdan brought "Willow" back in TV form in 2022. "Willow" was one of the many projects Disney put into production when they purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, in addition to new "Star Wars" movies and a new "Indiana Jones" movie, and hopes were running high. Disney poured over $156 million into an eight-episode season, and old fans perked up. The good feeling, it seemed, was about to return.
But then, after those eight episodes were up, Disney announced that they were canceling "Willow." It was a disappointing decision, as the series seemed to have a lot of potential (even though /Film's own Josh Spiegel said it would have functioned better as a feature film). Then, to make matters worse, Disney removed "Willow" from their service entirely, making it wholly unavailable.
Why did they do that? Because, according to Deadline, Disney needs to do some serious reconnoitering.
Willow got canceled because Disney needs to rethink its plans
"Willow," one can easily see, is a victim of the Streaming Wars. Multiple studios found that they could spend huge amounts of money on many, many high-profile projects and shovel them wholesale onto their self-owned streaming services, all with the effect of boosting the company's stock value. Because streaming services weren't releasing their viewership numbers, they no longer had to prove anyone was watching their shows, ensuring that a large audience wasn't necessary to grow said stock value.
A lack of viewership numbers also allowed studios to cut royalty payments to writers, directors, and actors. It no longer mattered if anyone watched a high-profile streaming show or movie, only that its existence on a streaming service looked good on paper. The obfuscation model caused a massive streaming boom, one that only went bust when writers and actors went on strike in 2023.
In the Deadline article, show creator Jonathan Kasdan noted that "Willow" wasn't officially canceled, but that it was going on an indefinite hiatus. The hiatus, however, coincides with Lucasfilm — as Deadline says — undergoing a serious reassessment of its film slate.
It's pretty well-known that a lot of the recent TV shows on Disney+, and several of its higher-profile movies, have been unnecessarily expensive. "Secret Invasion" cost $212 million and "The Acolyte" cost $230 million, which doesn't seem cost-effective. This is in addition to the $416 million "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," the $387 million "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the $278 million "The Marvels," and the $388 million "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" (which, to be fair, did eventually turn a modest profit).
On top of all that was $156 million given to a series that, at best, had a niche interest for nostalgic viewers.
The cancelation of Willow seems to be an effort to curtail spending at Disney
The actual quote from Disney's Bob Iger, as reported by Deadline back in March 2023, was, at least pertaining to Marvel:
"[T]here are 7,000 characters, there are a lot more stories to tell. What we have to look at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel stories we're telling but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters. Sequels typically work well for us. Do you need a third and a fourth, for instance, or is it time to turn to other characters?"
Iger also admitted that the low box office returns of "Solo" in 2018 (also, incidentally, a Ron Howard film) made him hesitate about future "Star Wars" projects. He also admitted that on the glut of "Star Wars" movies and shows "the cadence was a little aggressive," which is a gentle way of saying that executives flooded the market and overexposed the brand. Iger said "We're going to make sure when we make [a 'Star Wars' film], it's the right one. So we're being very careful there."
Part of the cost-cutting, sadly, was "Willow." The show debuted on November 30, 2023, and it was removed from Disney+ entirely by May 26 the following year. It costs money to keep a series on streaming — companies need to buy bandwidth — and it was cheaper for Disney to axe "Willow" entirely and remove it from public view than to keep it around in a vague hope that an audience comes along.
It needn't be repeated that this is the most viewer-unfriendly way to run a business. In a previous generation, when TV seasons were 26 episodes and ran on a weekly basis, and then re-ran in syndication, many shows could grow an audience over several years, improving as it went. In a world where big companies can not just cancel eight-episode shows, but also hide them from the public, no audience will be found. Perhaps a reassessment is necessary.