Willow It will not have a second season. As reported this week by various specialized media, such as Deadline, the series will not continueafter weeks of speculation about the future of the series, which brings back the popular magician Willow Ufgood who turned the film of the same name directed by Ron Howard into a cult title in the late 80s.
Willow was one of the projects spin off Seriéfilo that Bob Chapek announced during the 2020 investor call. Then Disney was trying to navigate the pandemic, putting the exploitation of its most valuable intellectual properties at full throttle in the hope that nostalgia would manage to work the magic.
The reality has turned out to be rather less optimistic. Not a complacent product and with part of the original cast as Willow seems to have reported results sufficiently solvent to end the series. It can go very badly streaming if now he also has to go on lead feet, with what previously seemed like a guaranteed success.
The closet bottom crisis
Disney was a digital skeptic until circumstances forced her to stop being one. It was the year 2017 when the company decided to embark on the direct-to-consumer business adventure, after years of licensing the content to Netflix, which, in practice, had conquered the world at the expense of its catalogue.
The mantra, then, was “content is king” and they had it in spades.. Disney owned the rights to some of the most lucrative brands and franchises in history, and the path to success seemed inescapably to lie through original production using the most profitable products.
Disney assesses a change in strategy: consider selling more movies and series to the competition
The startup made use of those products that, for the purposes of the whole world, offered more guarantees. With The Mandalorianthe star content with which the platform was launched on the market in November 2019, Disney made it clear that the intellectual property of Star Wars he was in extraordinary health. He was soon followed by Marvel, with wandavision. It did not take long to become evident that not everything that was inspired by characters, plots and known universes was a guarantee of success.
Also in the case of Star Wars. nor the book of Bobba Fett (with connection to The Mandalorian included) nor Obi-Wan Kenobi achieved a substantial spin. if he seemed to get it Andorseries itself renewed given the great reception of the fandom despite having premiered in full duel between the house of the dragon and the rings of power.
The announcement of the series Willow was made official in the fall of 2020. Bringing back the wizarding world created by George Lucas seemed like a logical and smart move, considering that the title didn’t just appeal to the film’s original audience. It also introduced characters and plots to the new generations.
The security of what is known has always been the substrate that has allowed the development of economically ambitious projects with certain guarantees.. Disney, however, missed the mark.
Many say that the series focused more on fans of youthful fantasy for whom the story was a discovery and neglected those who loved the characters and were going to reintroduce their own naturally into the series.
The crisis has made Disney less understanding
No one is surprised that Netflix cancels shows. It is, in fact, a platform that is sadly famous for the number of television series that remain in limbo as canceled programs. Disney, on the other hand, has not been lavish on cancellations. Neither in the dissemination of audience information that can offer a more or less precise idea of what is a success or failure for the purposes of the platform.
But the absence of data does not hide a reality: Willow It may have been well received by the audience to which it was addressed, but it has not been truly relevant. And it seems that it is there, in the cultural relevance, where the element lies to understand the reason for the cancellation.
The series did not achieve the impact of the original film which, with 35 million production, managed to raise 137.6 million dollars (about 130 million euros) worldwide and become a family classic that the company has managed to make profitable for decades.
To Disney he has run out of financial waist enough to let programs without great viewing statistics continue to generate spending. Bob Iger himself, CEO of Disney, declared a few weeks ago that the company was thinking much more about the film projects based on intellectual properties that will finally see the light of day, making it clear that the frenzy for sequels and prequels had come to an end. “I think we have to look very carefully at what characters and stories we exploit.”
Disney seems aware that Wall Street is watching. And efficiency is now the king. Willow as a series it is dead, but internal company sources assure that intellectual property continues to be of interest to the company. What is really important is the dent that these clubs leave in intellectual property, and how many failures can a universe recover from before the fan definitively turns their backs on it.
