All eight episodes of Willow are now streaming on Disney+, and the all-new sequel series, based on George Lucas' 1988 fantasy-adventure movie of the same name, has been a hit with fans.
In charge of this small screen follow-up was writer and executive producer Jon Kasdan, someone we're sure you'll know best for penning Solo: A Star Wars Story alongside his father, The Empire Strikes Back scribe, Lawrence Kasdan. We recently spoke with Jon about Willow's finale (you'll find the full interview here), but had to talk a little Star Wars with him too.
We start by hearing from the writer about which characters from Disney+'s Star Wars TV shows he'd include if the movie was being written today, prompting Kasdan to share his reaction to Andor's big Solo Easter Egg. That saw Cassian mention being on Mimban, the same planet Han Solo first met Chewbacca on.
It's possible they were there at the same time, especially as Cassian pointed out to Luthen Rael that he spent two years fighting to survive on the planet.
Talking of cameos, also asked Kasdan about Maul's memorable appearance in Solo, learning the lengths he went to in order to include one of his favourite Star Wars characters in the movie.
You can check out this Star Wars-related excerpt from our chat with the writer below.
I have to take this chance to ask a Star Wars question; with the launch of everything from The Mandalorian to Andor since Solo came out, if you were making the movie today, are there any characters from those TV shows you’d have loved to find a way to write into the film?
Yeah, I think they’re all inhabiting their own worlds in great ways and one of the things I love about Andor is that it feels so different from what Jon [Favreau], [Dave] Filoni, and the team are doing with Mando. Those are separate entities and the idea of them crossing is almost unthinkable in a way! Solo occupies a funny place in between the two a little bit.
I don’t know…I’d certainly like to see Erin [Kellyman]’s character, Enfys Nest, more. I do wonder if she couldn’t find a place in one of the universes of these other things. I found her so compelling and someone I felt we perhaps didn’t get to spend enough time with.
I love that Tony [Gilroy] made a reference to Cassian having been at the battle of Mimban. When I heard that, I lit up and asked, ‘Did they know each other? Was he a cook? What was happening?’ I love the connectivity of it, but also that they’ve created these very separate roads to follow.
Maul was obviously a huge cameo, but was that one you had to fight to get in there or was he planned from the start?
It was something I had wanted. My dad was more unsure as he’s old school and comes from the first three movies and had less of a relationship with the later ones. I told him, ‘No, no, this is going to be great. You’re going to love this!’ By the time we were done, he had bought into it fully, and Maul is my favourite part of the prequel trilogy.
I thought he was such a fun and rich character and I remember the excitement so clearly after seeing that design in the trailers for the movie anticipating that character, and wanting more from him. Getting the opportunity to squeeze him in there in a way that felt connected to the larger lore was irresistible to me and to Ron [Howard]. He felt exactly as I did.
All episodes of Willow are now streaming on Disney+.