Willow delivered a number of cameo appearances throughout its first season, one being Christian Slater, who appeared in one episode as an associate of Val Kilmer’s Madmartigan. Disney+ has just released a new documentary charting the making of the fantasy epic. Before that, Slater spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his time filming the fantasy series and discussed his love of Kilmer’s performance in the original movie. He also explained how his character of Allagash made him reminisce about his role as Will Scarlet in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He said:

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Continuing to detail his casting in the series, he added:

“From what I recall, Will Scarlet made up a song as Robin Hood [Kevin Costner] was crossing the little river there, and Allagash also likes to make up songs on the spot. So when I got there, I was surprised to learn that Allagash was a songwriter, but we were able to incorporate that into the story, which was fun for me. They didn’t expect it at times, but sometimes, I would just deliver the lines that were written, as a song. So that surprised them, and I’m glad they kept a lot of that stuff."

“I was a huge fan of the movie. I fell in love with Val Kilmer and his energy and what he brought to the movie was just fantastic. Warwick [Davis] and I are also friends. We’ve crossed paths a lot in our history. We did a production of Spamalot at the Hollywood Bowl about five years ago and we had a total blast together. So when I heard about a Willow series, I thought, ‘Oh, this is interesting. This is unexpected. What a fun thing to update and reintroduce.’ And when Jon [Kasdan] started to talk to me about the character and what he wanted to do, it just felt like a nice fit.”

Will There Be a Second Season of Willow?

     Disney  

It is not unfair to say that Willow did not quite make the impact on its debut that Disney was probably hoping for, and its initial ratings from audiences were not exactly glowing, even though critics were more accepting of the revival of the 1988 movie.

So far, there has been no word on whether Disney will be giving the green light to another season, but showrunner Jonathan Kasdan has a plan for Willow’s future if things do move ahead. Talking about the uncertainty around the industry’s decisions of what counts as a viable series for renewal, Kasdan said:

Willow Season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+.

“It’s a strange and unpredictable time here in Hollywood. You see it all over the industry – there are shows that were well on their way to moving forward that haven’t, shows that never expected to be in a second season that are – so you never know where you’re going to be and you never know where the world is going to end up in a year or whatever.”