“Willow” returns for a daring and beautiful new journey through Tir Asleen

• Nearly 35 years later, Lucasfilm is making a comeback to the Willow universe with a television series of the same name that picks up after the sorcerer and Madmartigan vanquished the evil Queen Bavmorda.
• The Disney+ series captures the kingdom of Tir Asleen with the same beauty and epic scope as the original production, luring you into a compelling and beautiful world from the first episode.
• Rings of Power and House of the Dragon both lack the humor that distinguishes Willow’s journey into the unknown.

With their 1988 film Willow, Lucasfilm dove headfirst into the world of magic and high fantasy in the midst of their success with franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and just a few years after they teamed up with Jim Henson on the fantastical adventure Labyrinth. The movie, which stars Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer as an unlikely team of intrepid explorers tasked with saving a child destined to be their kingdom’s salvation, is well-liked for both its innovative approach to the fantasy genre and the endearing performances of its endearing leads.

Nearly 35 years later, Lucasfilm is making a comeback to the Willow universe with a television series of the same name that picks up after the sorcerer and Madmartigan vanquished the evil Queen Bavmorda. All appears well in the land of Tir Asleen, which is just as breathtaking as it was in the late 1980s, and the kingdom now lives in peace under the leadership of Queen Sorsha (the returning and still gorgeous Joanne Whalley). Willow, now High Aldwin, must once more take up Cherlindrea’s wand to battle the forces of darkness when peace is threatened and Sorsha’s son Airk (Dempsey Bryk) is abducted by an enigmatic force. This time, he will have a new group of adventurers by his side.

Reentering the world of Willow came with some anxiety for me, as it does with every reboot or continuation of a well-liked brand that graces our screens — and good lord, there are plenty. I find it difficult for modern filmmakers to achieve the gauzy, made-of-styrofoam-and-a-prayer enchantment that makes so many of those movies work, including Willow, as someone who grew up on the adored cheese of ’80s fantasy flicks. I was worried that without Ron Howard’s direction or Val Kilmer’s star power as Madmartigan, the series would fail and be overshadowed by Lucasfilm’s Star Wars series, which attracts viewers based solely on name recognition, and that it would lose the entrancing charm that first made me fall in love with Tir Asleen.

But with Jonathan Kasdan as the show’s creator, executive producer, and writer, Willow and her friends are in capable hands. The Disney+ series captures the kingdom of Tir Asleen with the same beauty and epic scope as the original production, luring you into a compelling and beautiful world from the first episode. However, while we are introduced to a slightly gritty version of the world we know and love, one with its edges worn down and characters who are older and more jaded, the Disney+ series maintains the world’s beauty and epic scope.

You want to believe, as much as you did as a child, that if you believe enough, you could go adventuring there too. Instead of using the Volume technology used for Lucasfilm’s many, many Star Wars projects, the series shot on location in Wales to create the massive scale of the lands Willow and company must travel through in order to save the life of Airk and Elora Danan, the now-grown future empress of Tir Asleen.

The show’s breadth is comparable to that of the high fantasy shows that have dominated television this year and isn’t hesitant to dive further into the people and things that exist outside the walls of Sorsha’s castle. It’s a lavish, in-depth ode to fantasy narrative with the distinct advantage of having hope at its core—the same type of hope that fueled the first movie and helped it become such a hit with viewers. Rings of Power and House of the Dragon both lack the humor that distinguishes Willow’s journey into the unknown.

It contains all the types of characters that kids pretend to be on the schoolyard playground: a princess, her devoted knight, a kitchen maid, a warrior, and a prince from a nearby realm.

If you were concerned that the new group of explorers wouldn’t measure up to the excitement and antics of Willow and Madmartigan, rest assured. These characters, along with Davis’s titular High Aldwin sorcerer, make up the series’ heart. Viewers will want to follow the (sometimes not so) merry band wherever their quest takes them. While they are numerous and diverse, ranging from a pitiful but intelligent prince (Tony Revelori) to a knight in training with a mysterious past (Erin Kellyman), each is compelling and complex, someone’s dream D&D party brought to life with all the care and love I was hoping for.

Even though everyone is on the quest for different reasons, Willow avoids the dreaded “too many cooks in the kitchen” issue by keeping its main characters together and tying their conflicts and motivations into a wild, colorful tapestry.

While Kit (Ruby Cruz), the daughter of Sorsha, falls in love, she is also searching for information about what happened to her father, whose absence is felt keenly. Kit hopes to find these answers in the mysterious warrior Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel) or the kitchen maid Dove (Ellie Bamber), who joins the search because she thinks she is in love with Airk. Each is on their own journey of self-discovery, which is being played out in distinctive (if life-threatening) ways. They are all connected by their tenacious refusal to give up, despite the fact that nothing is quite as it seems.

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