Joonas Suotamo Reveals Surprise “Willow” Role as the Scourge

According to the official Lucasfilm website, Joonas Suotamo, who is known for playing Chewbacca in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Solo: A Star Wars Story, will be appearing in the new Willow series as the Scourge.

What’s Happening:

  • In Willow, Suotamo plays a monstrosity known only as the Scourge, with cracked gray skin covered in slime, and wearing a spiked cage over his head.
  • As part of the mysterious Gales, Suotamo’s humanoid creature is pretty different from a lovable, cuddly Wookiee, and is a major threat to the heroes of Tir Asleen.
  • “The Gales are these lackeys for this sinister being,” he says. “Through some dark magic, they’ve become these really unnaturally strong fighters.”
  • Willow showrunner Jon Kasdan was looking for an actor to fill the role of a “beastly, muscular” hulk, and being 6ft 11, Suotamo was the perfect choice.
  • “Compared to Chewie, the costume was a lot more to put on,” he says. “I had a team of people following me with different gadgets and gloves and the cage.” Suotamo would spend about two to three hours in the makeup chair every morning, putting on a muscle suit, makeup, and having silicone material glued onto his face. The aesthetics were only half the journey, though.
  • “It was new territory for me,” he says. “I’d grown accustomed to playing these lovable moments, and all of a sudden, that’s not my job at all.” In the end, Suotamo found a way to play evil. “There were a lot of times I would be in the dark, rehearsing my violent outbursts in the suit,” he says.

  • On the set of Willow, he was reunited with his Solo cast mate Erin Kellyman, who plays Jade in Willow.
  • The Willow series premieres tomorrow, November 30th exclusively on Disney+, and the original movie is already available to stream there.
Sign up for Disney+ or the Disney Streaming Bundle (Disney+, ESPN+, and ad-supported Hulu) now