Christian Slater Compares Willow Role to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

By Jamie Jirak

The first season of Willow recently came to an end on Disney+, and fans of the fantasy series are eager to find out if it will be getting a second season. While we await news about the show's future, some of the folks involved with the series have been sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits and Disney+ just released a documentary about the making of the show. One episode of Willow featured Christian Slater as Allagash, a character who fought alongside Madmartigen (Val Kilmer) in the Battle of Land's End. Slater recently had a chat with The Hollywood Reporter and talked about his relationship with Kilmer. The actor also compared his Willow character to Will Scarlet, his character from the 1991 film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

"Without a doubt," Slater said when asked if Willow gave him Robin Hood flashbacks. "From what I recall, Will Scarlet made up a song as Robin Hood [Kevin Costner] was crossing the little river there, and Allagash also likes to make up songs on the spot. So when I got there, I was surprised to learn that Allagash was a songwriter, but we were able to incorporate that into the story, which was fun for me. They didn't expect it at times, but sometimes, I would just deliver the lines that were written, as a song," he added with a laugh. "So that surprised them, and I'm glad they kept a lot of that stuff."

Slater said of joining Willow, "I was a huge fan of the movie. I fell in love with Val Kilmer and his energy and what he brought to the movie was just fantastic. Warwick [Davis] and I are also friends. We've crossed paths a lot in our history. We did a production of Spamalot at the Hollywood Bowl about five years ago and we had a total blast together. So when I heard about a Willow series, I thought, 'Oh, this is interesting. This is unexpected. What a fun thing to update and reintroduce.' And when Jon [Kasdan] started to talk to me about the character and what he wanted to do, it just felt like a nice fit."

Is Willow Getting a Season 2?

Willow showrunner Jonathan Kasdan recently talked with io9 about the finale and addressed the show's cliffhangers and said he's still uncertain about the show's future. However, in another recent interview with Radio Times, he provided a promising update about Season 2. Kasdan revealed that conversations with Lucasfilm and Disney+ about a second season of Willow are "going good" and that the team is "eager to do it."

 He added, "It's a strange and unpredictable time here in Hollywood. You see it all over the industry – there are shows that were well on their way to moving forward that haven't, shows that never expected to be in a second season that are – so you never know where you're going to be and you never know where the world is going to end up in a year or whatever."

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"But I will tell you that these things take so long to get going and then to make that the attitude and the support from Lucasfilm has been: 'We definitely want to keep telling these stories, but we don't know what the future holds,'" Kasdan explained. 

Willow: Behind The Magic is now streaming on Disney+. 

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