Warwick Davis Is Still Mad That Disney Removed ‘Willow’ From Disney+
When Bob Iger returned to The Walt Disney Company in November 2022, his top priority was to turn around the company’s direct-to-consumer business.
Since the launch of Disney+ in 2019, Disney has been one of the major players in streaming, mining its Star Wars, Marvel, and animated canon to produce one of the best content libraries available.
The Mandalorian & Grogu
To do so, however, the company spent billions.
Disney’s Original Goal Was Subscriber Growth
At the dawn of the streaming era, Wall Street investors were hyper-focused on subscriber count and growth. The prevailing notion was that Disney needed to establish its streaming audience and carve out its place in the market.
By the time Iger returned to Disney, however, things had changed. Wall Street was no longer focused on subscriber count. Instead, it wanted companies to show that streaming could be profitable.
Photo: Disney
At this point, Disney was in trouble. Despite boasting some of the most popular streaming shows, the company lost hundreds of millions of dollars on the endeavor. Clearly, something needed to change.
The Streaming Strategy Shift
Upon his return to Disney, Iger publically stated that his goal was to reach profitability in streaming by the end of Fiscal Year 2024.
With that goal in mind, The Walt Disney Company drastically cut back its spending. To this end, the studio’s rate of new content production, and the kind of series and movies it was creating, were drastically cut back.
Photo: Deadline
While Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar remained top priorities for Disney+, content not attached to these franchises was slashed. Series like The Spiderwick Chronicles and Nautilus were shelved despite being completed, while others like The Rocketeer were seemingly quietly canceled.
Disney’s new streaming strategy also led the company to remove hundreds of titles from across its platforms.
Quickly, Disney+ original series, including Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Big Shot, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum, were unceremoniously removed from the platform as Disney sought to further reduce costs.
Photo: seventeen.com
Of all the shows to be removed, however, the most surprising was Willow.
‘Willow’s’ Shocking Removal
A sequel to the popular George Lucas movie of the same name, Willow saw Warwick Davis reprise his role as the eponymous hero alongside Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, and Tony Revolori.
Photo: Lucasfilm/Forbes
The highly anticipated series debuted in November 2022 and continued through January 2023. Four months after the series finale, Disney removed the show from Disney+.
The removal of Willow was particularly shocking, as the show was part of the beloved Lucasfilm franchise. Additionally, Disney spent over $100 million to create Willow, only to dump the series six months after its debut.
Photo: Disney
By removing Willow from Disney+, the company could take an impairment charge, essentially admitting that it spent money on a production deemed unviable.
In total, Disney generated a $1.5 billion impairment charge from its content purge, drastically reducing its tax bill.
The Walt Disney Company
For fans of Willow, however, this was no solace.
Warwick Davis Speaks Out
Roughly a year and a half after Willow was removed from Disney+, series star Warwick Davis is still feeling the sting.
The actor took to social media this week to share a behind-the-scenes photo from the series. As part of his post, he called the removal of Willow a “travesty.”
This image just came up as a photo memory. A BTS shot from the #Willow Series. 😃 It’s a travesty that @DisneyPlus value shareholders over subscribers in their creative decision-making. #Justsaying
I only ever saw each episode once!😡 pic.twitter.com/lA49jObIyd
— Warwick Davis (@WarwickADavis) December 11, 2024
“This image just came up as a photo memory. A BTS shot from the #Willow Series. 😃 It’s a travesty that @DisneyPlus
value shareholders over subscribers in their creative decision-making. #Justsaying,” he captioned the post
“I only ever saw each episode once!”
Davis’s frustration is surely felt by millions of Willow fans, who not only saw the series cut short but soon had no way to watch the produced episodes.
Bob Iger Achieves His Goal
Earlier this year, Bob Iger announced that Disney had reached profitability in streaming ahead of schedule. The news was met by cheers and applause from Wall Street investors and media analysts alike.
Photo: Variety
However, the streaming turnaround hurt fans of shows like Willow. That cost should be recognized, even if it doesn’t appear on the spreadsheet.
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