For the 2022 series' trivia, see here.
- Billing Displacement: Despite playing the main protagonist and title role, Warwick Davis is only given third billing behind Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley in the end credits.
- Celebrity Voice Actor: The Japanese dub features drama actor Yosuke Naka as General Kael.
- Cross-Regional Voice Acting: Voice actors from Mexico and Los Angeles were used for the Latin American Spanish dub.
- Deleted Scene:
- There is a continuity error that involves the Magic Acorns Willow was given by the High Aldwin. During an interview with The Empire Podcast, Warwick Davis explained that in a scene near the end of the film, he throws a second acorn and is inexplicably out after having only used two of the three Magic Acorns he had been given earlier in the film. Included in the Blu-ray release is the cut scene, in which Willow uses an acorn (his second) in a boat to petrify a shapeshifting aquatic creature that attacked them during a storm. Davis says that his hair is wet in the next scene that did make it into the original version of the film, but the acorn is never referenced.
- A scene was filmed but cut, where during the battle at Tir Asleen, Sorsha finds her father, who has been turned to stone by Bavmorda. Sorsha's father communicates with her through the stone encasement and pleads with her to side with Willow and Madmartigan, help them protect Elora Danan and defeat Bavmorda. This far better explains Sorsha betraying Bavmorda and succumbing to Madmartigan's affections for her (the scene is present in the Marvel Comics adaptation).
- Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: All of the Nelwyn are portrayed by people who have real-life dwarfism.
- Dueling Dubs: The film was dubbed twice into Japanese. In addition to the home media dub, another dub was made for the Tokyo Broadcasting System in 1996.
- DVD Commentary: Warwick Davis provides one of the best commentaries ever heard. Everything you want to know about Willow is right here. He tells stories, talks about taking care of a baby, points out scenes that were deleted, gives behind-the-scenes info, talks about working with Ron Howard and George Lucas, and explains the joys of working with Val Kilmer.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Joanne Whalley dyed her brown hair fiery red to play Sorsha.
- Hobbits: Defied. Word of God states that the Nelwyn are the size of real world standard humans and the Daikini are giants.
- Never Work with Children or Animals:
- The large group of pigs outside the castle continuously tried mating. Buckets of cold water were used to separate them.
- Because of slow production during filming, the babies outgrew the props and the baby carrier that Willow had on his back, so they needed a new baby quickly. The second assistant director, Gerry Toomey, recommended his new born niece, Rebecca Bearman, although she was never credited. The scene where the baby is sick on Burglekutt was not written into the script. Warwick Davis walked with a limp which gave Rebecca motion sickness. When she was lifted up, she threw up over his head, and it was so funny they kept it in the film.
- Pop-Culture Urban Legends: There's a persistent rumor that Peter Dinklage played a background Nelwyn in this film, but he didn't. He made his film debut in 1995, seven years after Willow was released.
- Real-Life Relative:
- Ron Howard's wife Cheryl Alley and Warwick Davis' sister Kim Davis both appear as extras atop the snowy mountaintop village.
- In the Latin American Spanish dub, Javier Pontón voices Madmartigan and his sister Patricia voices Kaiya Ufgood.
- Referenced by...: Reservation Dogs has a main character named Elora Danan. Pointing out her Unusual Pop Culture Name often prompts other characters to share unsolicited behind-the-scenes trivia or opinions about the film.
- Romance on the Set:
- Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley got married in real life after meeting on the movie. Their marriage lasted eight years and produced two children.
- One of the many reasons why Warwick Davis is proud of Willow is that he met his future wife Samantha Burroughs who appeared as an extra. The two married in 1991.
- Technology Marches On: The morphing CG used with Fin Raziel was dated by the time Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was released.
- Throw It In!:
- Val Kilmer ad-libbed most of his dialogue.
- Warwick Davis smirked when Mark Northover in character as Burglekutt sarcastically laughs at him in the scene which Burglekutt decides to abandon Willow at the crossroads with the group and go home. It was kept in the film.
- Underage Casting: Warwick Davis was 17-18, playing a father of two.
- Vindicated by Cable: Though its theatrical release disappointed the studio in 1988, it steadily developed a cult following thanks to video rentals and TV showings.
- What Could Have Been:
- A number of scenes were deleted that contained the intended back stories of Madmartigan and Sorsha - the former a warrior prince of a noble family who disgraced himself (one early draft had him proclaiming that he "could have been king!"), the latter revealed to have had a good and noble king for a father (in fact he is the old king seen at the end of the film) and having been effectively brainwashed into being a villain by her evil mother. While there are some faint traces or at least a vague sense of Madmartigan's past in the film (it is not unreasonable to assume that he used to be a soldier of some sort) there is little to no sense of what makes Sorsha tick. This lost material was used in the novelization.
- Another deleted scene that was included in the novelization (and also the Marvel Comics adaptation) shows Willow successfully using one of the magic acorns to petrify a shape-shifting lake creature set by Bavmorda to guard the island where Fin Raziel was banished.
- John Cusack reportedly auditioned for the role of Madmartigan.
- George Lucas reportedly wanted Willow to be a trilogy of films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones but weak box office forced him to scrap the idea.
- The idea of Canon Welding by putting the film into the Star Wars Expanded Universe was tossed around for years, but all that came from it was a 2006 April Fools' Day prank. Another project, "Alien Exodus
" would've linked this film, Star Wars, THX 1138, and even American Graffiti together.
