Exclusive: Ron Howard Confirms 'Willow' Sequel Discussions

Legendary director Ron Howard will make his first foray into the galaxy far, far away when Solo: A Star Wars Story premieres later this month, but it's not his first collaboration with Lucasfilm.

Howard directed the movie Willow in 1988, featuring Val Kilmer and Star Wars stalwart Warwick Davis in the title role. And three decades later, he's starting to think about a sequel to the classic fantasy film.

"I don't want to give away too much, but there is a little talk of Willow," Howard told ComicBook.com. "We wouldn't call it Willow 2, I think it would focus a lot on Elora Danan, although Willow would have to be significantly involved."

In the movie, Willow comes across the infant Elora, who is prophesized to destroy the evil Queen Bavmorda. Willow teams up with the charismatic swordsman Madmartigan (Kilmer) to help keep the child from Bavmorda's forces.

Howard said that experience informed a lot of his decisions while working on the Han Solo spinoff movie.

"I thought about that movie a lot as I was working on Solo because there are certain scenes, especially around some of the Madmartigan stuff, was reminiscent of a character with that kind of swagger and bravado. And also some of the humor around some of the action in Willow was something I inspired to get into Solo."

Of course, there's no word yet on if a Willow followup will actually happen. The movie has since become a cult classic, but whether an audience demand is there is up for debate. Of course, in this day of remakes and reboots, there's a good chance for some potential sequel. High concept fantasy properties are hard to pull off, but the goodwill and reputation that Lucasfilm has built over the last four decades could sway some studio executives.

And after Ron Howard came in own Solo: A Star Wars Story and pulled a good movie out of a rocky production, he should have earned some good will. If he wants to do a sequel to Willow, then Disney and Kathleen Kennedy should start entertaining those discussions.

The film was far from a flop, and has since earned some notoriety as a classic '80s movie. If there's any time to revive the property and make it a potential franchise, that time is now.

But for now, fans can see Howard's latest film Solo: A Star Wars Story in theaters on May 25th.