Do You Need to Watch the 'Willow' Movie Before Watching the Disney Plus Series?

In 1988, the world was introduced to Willow (Warwick Davis), a farmer/magician in training tasked with keeping a baby princess from being harmed by the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) and saving the world in the process.

Willow finds himself helping a group of travelers again in the brand new series Willow on Disney Plus.

The tricky thing about sequel series is knowing whether or not you have to watch the original story in order to understand the follow-up series.

So, with that in mind, do you need to watch the original Willow film before the Willow series? Here's what we know.

It's not necessary to watch the Willow film before you stream the Willow Disney Plus series. However, it does add a lot of helpful context during the events of the Willow series.

Given that the Willow series is set about 20 years after the events of the Willow film, multiple characters do reference the events of the movie in the Disney Plus sequel series. Remember how Willow was a magician-in-training during the events of the film? Well he's a full-fledged sorcerer himself in the Willow series!

Willow's old ally Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) is now ruling over the land of Tir Asleen in the Willow Disney Plus series. So what serves as the catalyst for the events of the show?

Why, the kidnapping of Sorsha's son Airk (Dempsey Bryk), that's what! Sorsha's daughter Kit (Ruby Cruz) enlists the help of her best friend Jade (Erin Kellyman) and her betrothed Graydon (Tony Revolori) to save her brother from the forces of evil. Naturally, they seek the aid of Kit's mother's old friend, Willow.

Joining the Fellowship of the Willow (if you will) is Airk's sorta girlfriend Dove (Ellie Bamber) and the warrior Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel). As of Nov. 30th, 2022, the first two episodes of Willow Season 1 have been released for streaming on Disney Plus.

The remaining 6 episodes will be released subsequently every Wednesday, so that means Willow Episode 8 will drop on Jan. 11th, 2023.

Although a second season of Willow has not been confirmed by Disney as of Nov. 30th, 2022, Willow's showrunner Jonathan Kasdan did state his desire to continue Willow's story (via Looper).

Jonathan said during a Willow press conference that, "We'd love to continue the story on. Where it seems to be the street leads from movies to TV, I hope that we're headed toward a moment where the reverse direction can be done too." The Willow showrunner essentially meant that he'd love to expand the Willow series on Disney Plus into movies as well.

He also noted that before they attempted to develop any further Willow movies that, "The first thing we'd like to do is another season because we've got a lot more we'd like to tell here."

You can catch new episodes of Willow on Disney Plus every Wednesday.