10 GREAT TV Shows You Can't Watch Anymore

4. Willow (2022)

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Disney+

In 2022, Disney Plus released Willow, a long-awaited sequel to the 1980s cult classic. While the story of Willow had been continued in a trilogy of truly bonkers fantasy novels by the great Chris Claremont, the show opted to instead tell its own story set decades in the future. It wasn't a success on the level of The Mandalorian, but thanks to consistent advertising by Disney and high praise from critics, Willow carved out a nice following for itself in its first season. 

And then, a mere six months later, Disney turned it into a tax write-off. 

The reason this keeps happening is because these companies are hopelessly convinced that EVERY show needs a Game of Thrones-level budget. Willow's per-episode budget was around $20 million, and with eight episodes in its run, that totals to about $156.8 million. Meanwhile, anyone who watched and enjoyed the show for what it was would be the first to tell you that its REAL home should've been the low to mid-budget, hour-long adventure format along the lines of Xena: Warrior Princess. 

Willow was never going to make that much money, but budgeted correctly, it could've made enough. As a result of Disney's unrealistic expectations, there are currently no proper avenues to watch Willow.

 
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Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?