‘Willow’ Disney+ Series Lands ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Director Jon M. Chu

Are you ready to return to the village of Nelwyn? Talk of a Willow project has been in the air for a while, but it was last year when Ron Howard teased a possible Disney+ series that the ball suddenly got rolling. Soon after, Jon Kasdan (Solo) came aboard to write it, and last thing we heard the pilot was already finished and ready to go. Well, now there’s a director and he’s someone quite familiar with adapting nostalgic properties: Jon M. Chu.

Disney has revealed that Jon M. Chu will direct the first episode of the Willow series. He will also exec-produce alongside showrunners Kasdan and Arrow‘s Wendy Mericle.

Chu is probably best-known for the hit film Crazy Rich Asians, but he directed other nostalgia properties such as GI Joe: Retaliation and Jem and the Holograms. He was also one of the driving forces behind the Step Up franchise.

Willow opened in 1988 and starred Warwick David as a farmer who discovers a baby, who proves to be key to saving their world. On his adventure with the child, he also encounters swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), with the two becoming reluctant heroes. The film was directed by Ron Howard based on a George Lucas story.

Davis, who has been a Lucasfilm staple for decades, will return as Willow Ufgood when the series enters production next year.

 

Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.