• Warwick Davis has returned to play the role of Willow Ufgood Willow.
• He first played the sorcerer in the Star Wars film of the same name in 1988.
• Davis says he was inspired by Mark Hamill’s performance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Warwick Davis has returned to the role of Willow Ufgood for the Disney+ show Willow, resuming his role as the sorcerer he first played in the 1988 film of the same name.

Now, the actor is revealing some of his inspirations for the character’s revival, including drawing inspiration from another of his iconic franchises, Star Wars.

Davis, who first appeared in the Star Wars universe as Wicket in 1983’s Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, spoke about channelling Mark Hamill’s performance in 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi in a new interview.

Davis eventually incorporated Hamill’s portrayal of a more senior Willow into his portrayal of a grizzled and older Luke Skywalker. “The one thing that stood out to me was Mark Hamill’s return to Luke Skywalker [in Star Wars: The Last Jedi] and how he approached it,” Davis told THR.

“I thought he was really interesting, and it was certainly not the expected approach.” He approached it from a completely different perspective than I did. Mark did not attempt to play the character younger.

He simply leaned into his more mature years, which is exactly what I did as Willow.” Harrison Ford and the late Carrie Fisher are among the legacy characters who returned for the Star Wars sequel trilogy after decades away from their characters.

Davis, on the other hand, cited Hamill’s reimagining of Luke Skywalker as an inspiration for Willow.

Davis emphasized that, despite the passage of time, Hamill was able to create a character that was distinct from the Luke of the original trilogy.

Davis specifically channelled this given that he was only a teenager when he played Willow in the first film, telling THR:

“I’m 52 now. The first time I played the character, I was only 17. So I thought, ‘Well, let’s not deny the fact that you’re 52. Let’s use that to make this character more interesting, more grounded and more well-rounded as well.'”

Davis went on to say that in the new Willow series, Willow finds himself in a significantly different world than he did in the original film, much like Luke Skywalker does after his attempts to rebuild the Jedi fail.

It’s not surprising that Davis drew heavily on Star Wars for Willow; the two franchises were both created by George Lucas, and Willow executive producers Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, and Jonathan Kasdan all played important roles in the Disney-era of Star Wars.

Aside from Davis, Willow features an ensemble cast that includes Ellie Bamber, who plays Dove/Elora in the film, Erlie Kellyman, Ruby Cruz, Amar Chadha-Patel, Dempsey Bryk, and Tony Revolori.

Along with Ralph Ineson, Davis’ daughter Annabelle Davis appears as a supporting character.

Also Read

‘The Midnight Club’ season 2 plans after cancellation

Netflix has cancelled Mike Flanagan's The Midnight Club. In a Tumblr post,...