Willow: Christian Slater Can’t Wait for His Episode (Exclusive)

The new Willow series premiered today on Disney+ and the first two episodes feature Warwick Davis and Joanne Whalley who both starred in the original film as Willow and Sorsha, respectively. Sadly, there is one major star from the 1988 fantasy classic you won’t see in the new show, and that’s Val Kilmer as Madmartigen. While his presence is felt throughout the show, the actor was unable to join his former co-stars. However, you will spot another 1980s heartthrob in an upcoming episode, and that’s Mr. Robot star, Christian Slater. I had the chance to chat with Slater during the Willow premiere on behalf of ComicBook.com last night, and he was pretty jealous that I’d seen his episode. It was very clear that Slater is excited to see himself in the fantasy show. 

“Did you see it?” Slater asked me. When I told him the show was great (I really loved it), he added sadly, “I haven’t seen it.” The iconic actor asked me if his episode was good and I said, “It’s awesome. No, I’m not kidding. I wouldn’t just say that.” Slater joked, “You would tell me the truth.” He continued, “‘Cause I’m excited about it and I had so much fun doing it. But you don’t know if it’s going to translate to how they’re going to put it all together and if they’re going to keep in the bumps and the mistakes and the black eyes.” 

While fans of Willow will have to wait a bit for Slater to pop up on the series, I hope he gets to see it soon! “Surprisingly we got to have some improvs, some ad-libs,” Slater told the audience at Lucasfilm’s D23 panel back in September. “This was definitely a fun character. Something I was really happy to do”  

How Does Joanne Whalley Feel About Playing Sorsha Again?

During the premiere, ComicBook.com also had a chat with Whalley and she talked about returning to her Willow role nearly 35 years later.

“Not really, no,” Whalley admitted when asked if she ever thought she’d be playing Sorsha again. “I didn’t actually, I never even thought about it.” We also asked how she bridged the gap between performances considering all that would have happened to Sorsha over time, and she gave all of the credit to Willow showrunner, Jonathan Kasdan.

“Well, you would think I might have a lot to say about it, but I actually don’t have much to say about it, because the joy of it was, is that Jon Kasdan completely understood the core material, the source material, and just moved it forward. I mean, he really is… I think when I read the scripts, it was such, not a relief exactly, but almost,” Whalley explained. “It didn’t feel strange at all, and I think that’s a testament to his genius.” She continued, “Because it didn’t feel strange. And family dynamics felt real. We’re further along in time still. Sorsha has a whole slew of different problems on her shoulders that she’s trying to pretend she’s not worrying about, and it just felt very natural … What more could you ask for?”

The first two episodes of Willow are now streaming on Disney+.