September 8, 2021
Disney’s forthcoming WILLOW streaming series to be scored by James Newton Howard
Composer James Newton Howard (JUNGLE CRUISE, THE HUNGER GAMES, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, KING KONG [2005], MALEFICENT, THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS) has revealed in a recent interview in the latest episode of Score: The Podcast that he is attached to compose music for Lucasfilm’s upcoming Disney+ original series WILLOW.
The show is developed by Jonathan Kasdan (SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, IN THE LAND OF WOMEN) & Wendy Mericle (ARROW) and stars Warwick Davis who returns in the title role, alongside Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, Tony Revolori, Ruby Cruz and Amer Chadha-Patel.
Based on the 1988 feature film (produced and written by George Lucas, directed by Ron Howard and scored by James Horner) the forthcoming series will take place years after the events of the film, and has to do with a princess (Ruby Cruz) assembling a search party to join her on her quest to rescue her twin brother.
In talking about his return to WILLOW with The Radio Times, Warwick Davis is quoted: “You know what, it’s weird to be able to talk about it now! It’s something which I never thought I would see happen. Everything sort of aligned when we did the movie SOLO. The writer, John Kasdan, was a huge fan of WILLOW. He grew up watching it and it’s one of the things that inspired him to become a screenwriter, as well as his dad. And then Ron Howard came into direct and John mentioned to him that he was a big fan of Willow and that got them talking. And I was on SOLO looking a little bit like Willow with my long hair as Weazel, and all these things came together.”
Filming for the series began in June 2021 in Wales. The show is currently in production and is expected to premiere in 2022 on Disney+.
– via filmmusicreporter and other sources
