Contrary to what you might be hearing, Disney’s Willow wasn’t a “fan-favorite.” It wasn’t a “beloved smash.”
It was an expensive flop that Disney erased from existence because no one cared.
The reality: Disney blew roughly $136 million on a series that had dismal viewership, terrible audience reception, and was so irrelevant that Disney removed it from Disney+ reportedly to avoid paying residuals. If it had any real audience, it would still exist.
Instead, Disney memory-holed it.
Forbes Calls It “Fan Favorite” — But Viewers Didn’t Show Up
Rather bizarrely, Forbes painted Willow as a budget win and a “fervent fanbase” success. But numbers tell a different story:
- Zero cultural footprint
- Minimal social buzz beyond launch
- Weak audience score on Rotten Tomatoes & IMDb
- No trending moments, memes, or real fan movement
If this thing truly had viewers, Disney wouldn’t have shredded it to save pennies.
Rotten Tomatoes vs. Reality
Critics gave Willow an inflated ~84% score — but audiences largely didn’t like it.
The Rotten Tomatoes audience score at launch hovered around the 29% range before being “adjusted,” and viewer sentiment on social media was overwhelmingly negative.
Fans of the original film didn’t connect.
New audiences never showed up.
And Disney felt the viewership was so low that paying residuals wasn’t worth it.
Disney Buried It for a Reason
Disney didn’t just cancel Willow — it scrubbed it from the platform entirely in a content purge strategy designed to write off losses and slash long-term costs.
That only happens when a title has no streaming value and no audience return.
Meanwhile shows with actual fanbases, even mid-performers, stay up. (The Mandalorian, Loki, Andor, etc.)
Forbes Praises the Budget — Viewers Didn’t Care
Forbes highlighted:
• ~$17 million per episode
• “Cost-controlled” production
• Compared it favorably to Marvel and Star Wars budgets (how is it working out for those franchises on Disney+?)
But you know what costs less than $17M per episode?
Not making a show no one watches.
This wasn’t efficiency — it was waste.
The Reality Disney Won’t Say Out Loud
Disney ordered Willow during peak streaming hype, then the market corrected. Budgets tightened. Subscriber growth slowed. They needed hits.
Willow wasn’t one. It didn’t expand the fanbase. It didn’t build franchise goodwill. It didn’t drive subs.
So Disney did the only profitable thing left: Pulled the plug and took the tax write-off.
Bottom Line
Forbes can dress it up however they want. Disney can pretend it’s a “streaming strategy shift.”
But here’s the truth: Canceled Garbage Disney+ Series Cost $136 Million That No One Watched
That’s the headline. That’s the story.
And that’s why Willow vanished.
