The time for theWillowDisney+ series is almost upon us. Days ahead of the series’ November 30streamingpremiere, two of the show’s cast members,Ruby CruzandDempsey Bryk, sat down to an interview withScreen Rant.The two of them play twins Kit and Airk, respectively, who are the children of Madmaritgan (Val Kilmer) and Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) from the original 1988 movie.
“For Dempsey and I, it definitely was very immediate twin energy. It really didn’t take much work, honestly. We met on a FaceTime that was very, ‘I see you. You see me.’ And then we just started hanging out. It really worked out for us. It was very easy,” said Cruz.
When collaborating with creator Jonathan Kasdan, Bryk said that what was really beautiful was that he did something as a writer that he thinks it’s entirely common. That is creating these three-dimensional characters who are contradictions and confused themselves. He also said that there were times when Kasdan would just come up to you, say one sentence, and everything would make sense.
“Yeah. And he was so collaborative. Yes, he wrote the show, he’s executive producing the show. He was the showrunner as well. But he also really was just around during filming to have conversations about what these characters were going through on a deeper level. He was so helpful because he really knew this world inside and out. And he’s done such a wonderful job creating characters that have separate entire worlds behind them and all come together and then experience this. He’s a great talent.”
RELATED:Willow Series Showrunner Hopes for More Seasons and a New Movie
The Characters and their Relationships
The dynamic between the two characters is that while Kit is the fighter, Airk is the romantic. When Airk gets kidnapped by the forces of darkness, it’s Kit who leads the party to rescue him. One of the people joining Kit on this quest besides the titular wizard is Jade (Erin Kellyman), an aspiring knight. When speaking about the relationship between Jade and Kit, Cruz teased something really special.
“I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. I think their relationship is really special. I want people to get to know them organically and authentically and understand why they mean so much to each other. I don’t want to spoil things, but I’m definitely excited for people to get to know them.”
Additionally, Airk’s status as a romantic ties into something that Bryk brought to the character, but that wasn’t necessarily on in the scripts. Bryk said that with someone who is in lots of different romantic relationships, with what’s on page, he could be either genuine or simply a player.
“And I thought it was really important that he’s actually genuine. He’s falling in love because it’s his tendency, but also because he has to. So that’s the thing that I wanted to bring to it,” said Bryk.
What would it have been like to be raised by Madmartigan and Sorsha? That’s a question posed by Cruz during the interview. Before that, Bryk also mentioned that an interesting thing about Kit and Airk was the things they incorporated and rejected from their parents. Both actors incorporated elements of Sorsha and Madmartigan into their performances.
“And also a little hint: There’s some Easter eggs of some very specific things within fighting [styles] that I wanted to have, and that the stunt team wanted to do. There’s maybe an Easter egg or a reference to some Madmartigan stuff.”
