Willow Showrunner Explains Why Kevin Pollak Only Had a Brief Cameo

The entire first season of Willow is now available to stream on Disney+, and the new series features actors from the original film of the same name. Not only do Warwick Davis (Willow) and Joanne Whalley (Sorsha) play important roles in the series, but the show’s fifth episode also features a delightful cameo from Kevin Pollak (Rool). Rool is a “Brownie” who accompanied Willow on his journey in the original film and they briefly catch up in the show. Willow invites Rool to join in on his latest quest, but the beloved Brownie says he left his days of adventure behind him and he just wants to continue his life of domesticity. Recently, Willow showrunner Jonathan Kasdan had a chat with io9 and talked about the show’s future and addressed Pollak’s scene. 

“I certainly wanted them back,” Pollak said of the Brownies. “I love Kevin. I’ve always been a huge fan of particularly The Usual Suspects Kevin Pollak. [He’s] like a major figure in my life. I knew he had an appetite to come back and I wanted to give people the delight of that character returning. But I would have really loved to have given them the delight of both characters [Pollak as Rool, Rick Overton as Franjean] returning and to have done a lot more with the Brownies. But the truth is that no technical element of making Willow is more challenging than the Brownies and making them believable and making it look reasonably good. And on the first season of a show like this, it does limit you in terms of what you’re able to do. And it was a battle to get them in there and I really wanted them.”

“I would love to,” Kasdan said of bringing back the Brownies in a potential second season. “Again, it presents a technical challenge always. The quality of effects that’s demanded by the audience now is really challenging to do on a week-to-week basis when you’re trying to make it interactive and great. But for example, I can tell you that in the original version of the pilot, when the Bone Reavers attacked the group, on each of Toth’s shoulders, he had a little Brownie sitting there riding each shoulder, sort of directing him which way to go. So there was always an intent to sort of add that. I love that scale of the show and I love that kind of character.”

ComicBook.com spoke with Pollak at the Willow premiere and the actor teased a potential return. When asked if Rool being in more of Willow was ever discussed, Pollak teased, “Well, I can’t talk about the future.” This certainly isn’t a confirmation that we will be seeing Rool again (the show hasn’t been renewed yet, after all), but it was enough of a tease to get us hopeful. 

The first season of Willow is now streaming on Disney+.