Posted in: Disney+, TV | Tagged: Amar Chadha-Patel, disney, Ellie Bamber, Erin Kellyman, Jonathan Kasdan, ron howard, Ruby Cruz, tony revolori, warwick davis, willow

Willow: Jonathan Kasdan Breaks Down Season 1 Finale, Teases Future

Willow original director Ron Howard weighs in on the first season & showrunner Jonathan Kasdan breaks down the Disney+ series' season finale.

The season finale of Willow created a watershed moment for our heroes. What would be particularly tragic is if Disney doesn't renew the series. The episode "Children of the Wyrm" had Kit (Ruby Cruz), Elora (Ellie Bamber), Graydon (Tony Revolori), Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel), Jade (Erin Kellyman), and Willow (Warwick Davis) in an epic confrontation with the Crone (Jane Carr) while being confronted with temptation from the Wyrm. Original director Ron Howard and showrunners & creator Jonathan Kasdan spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the unraveled twists and future of the Disney+ series. The following contains major spoilers, obviously.

When it came to what Howard thought of the first season, "I wouldn't have even supported [the project] if it hadn't been for [Jonathan Kasdan's] instincts and take on how to make the show be more contemporary and not be nostalgic," he said. "He was such a fan of the movie and understood it and the DNA of it. I knew he could get the tone and build on it." The actor and director said that there were always plans to expand the 1988 story, but budget and technological limitations prevented that only until recently.

Upon Graydon's sacrifice, "There was some conversation about that. But we all felt that there was something beautifully tragic about Graydon, and as a character, he is our Dark Prince. We always called him the Dark Prince in our construction of the show. One of the questions we always had and hoped to keep alive to some extent throughout the season was, 'Is he good or is he evil?' As the show progressed, he's pretty definitively good," Kasdan said. "His devotion to Elora was so pure, and the way he played those scenes was so lovely and tender. It felt like the thing that would most impel Elora into this final stage of her development was the loss of this completely devoted person. As is often the case with these decisions, and they're sometimes unpopular, sometimes you want the most devastating possible thing. And for her, he felt like that."

As far as Elora picking between (the previously corrupted) Airk (Dempsey Bryk) and Graydon, "She's not with either of them, frankly, at the moment. She's intent on taking a little break from the dating world entirely, and we'll see how she does with that. But conversely, Airk is not at all over her. In fact, she's only more attractive to him now that she's empress of the world and the most powerful sorcerer ever and has come into her power so fully. But I definitely think the bloom is off the rose for Elora."
With an eye to the future, Kasdan laid out his plans for the future in hopes Disney can greenlight the second season with Willow and Elora being able to defeat the Crone in only a first step to a longer journey. "Absolutely. It was always designed to be a three-act story. These things have to have a finite end to them," he said. "Because as a fan of these stories, I don't want to think that creators are just continuing it as long as they can to make a buck. It's nice in this day and age where there's an appetite from these streaming services for stories that do continue but aren't endless. This was very much designed and intended that this would be the first part of the story about Elora coming into her power, and then she would have to contend with darker forces beyond that."

As far as what specifically Kasdan might have planned in the future, he offered something developing with Kellyman. "The events of the finale have to be dealt with in a meaningful way at the top of wherever the story goes and the implications of the trauma those events caused to our characters and where it lands each of them. I'd love to get these characters out of that desert. Beyond that, they're all looking at very clear conflicts that were deeply positioned in season 1. Specifically, with Jade, the question of her loyalties and where her politics will land her is at the forefront in our minds regarding where that character can go and how she's torn between love and country a little bit. There's no shortage of directions that we'd love to explore, but at its core, it is about this conflict between this otherworldly entity and our heroes. And that's far from over."

For more, including Kasdan talking about what would happen if Elora gave in to the Wyrm's temptation, Kit's magical armor, how Willow's staff and Elora's wand breaking affect them in the future, Elora's grim prophecy, Graydon's post-credit scene, and more, you can check out the whole interview here.

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