Willow and many other shows will be removed from Disney+, Hulu

We saw it before with HBO Max and others, but Disney has now joined the content-cutting party. More than two dozen series and movies will be removed from Disney-owned streaming channels Disney+ and Hulu come May 26.

The list of shows removed notably includes Willow, the single-season TV series follow-up to the beloved 1988 cult-classic fantasy movie directed by Ron Howard. The Willow series premiered in November 2022 but struggled to find an audience.

Other notably cut content includes but is not limited to The World According to Jeff Goldblum, a couple of Marvel-themed documentaries, and several kids programs.

Further Reading

Streamers like Disney+ have to pay rights-holders and content creators continually in many cases to keep their content on their platforms, but often that content is being viewed by too few people and isn't driving new subscriptions. As such, these businesses see cuts as obvious ways to save money during turbulent times.

As noted, HBO Max infamously removed Westworld and some other programs recently. Showtime and others have made cuts, too, and Deadline reported recently that future content cuts at Netflix seem likely in a lengthy piece describing the reasons for the cuts and their effects on writers and others in the industry.

Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed the plan to remove shows from the company's streamers to save money during Disney's May 10 earnings call, when he noted that Disney expects to pay a content impairment charge of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion as it removes the shows.

Here is a list of shows that will be removed across Disney+, FX, Nat Geo, and Hulu: