Val Kilmer’s “Insurmountable” Health Problems Forced Him to Leave Willow.
The “insurmountable” health troubles that Val Kilmer was experiencing caused him to bow out of the recently released revival of Willow.
The actor, who was given a diagnosis of throat cancer in 2015, had every intention of reprising his role as Madmartigan in the Disney+ series, but he was compelled to step down from the role as a preventative measure in reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the showrunner Jonathan Kasdan, who was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, “as COVID has taken over the planet, it has become unstoppable.” “During the spring of the year, we were making preparations for this to occur on a regular basis. And Val, despite his best efforts, came to the conclusion that he was trapped.
Kilmer played the role of a disgraced knight in the original film, which was released in 1988. In the film, he assisted the magician Willow Wood (played by Warwick Davis) in rescuing Elora Danan, a young woman who was destined to die at the hands of the wicked queen Bavmorda.
Because fans had developed such a strong attachment to the character of Kilmer, Kasdan was resolute in his pursuit of recruiting the actor to appear in the new series.
“I remember coming to Val shortly after this case started picking up steam, and I said, ‘Look, we’re doing this.’ She looked at me like I had three heads. “And everyone wants Madmartigan to come back,” Kazdan says as he recalls the situation. And he responds by saying, “Not as much as me.”
Kasdan revealed that, despite his continued health issues, Kilmer expressed a strong desire to continue playing the character.
When I was leaving, he gave me a hug. When he was finished, he lifted me up and said, “See? I’m still quite strong.” And I’m like, “Great,” he said.
“When we began construction on the first season, we did so with the expectation that it would eventually air. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t until the very end of the procedure that it became apparent that we wouldn’t be able to get him.
Although Kilmer was unable to participate in the first season of the show due to contractual obligations, Kasdan made it clear that the actor would be welcome to do so in the second season.
“We wanted to keep the door open for any possibility in the future and also commemorate his spirit,” he said. “We wanted to leave the door open for any opportunity in the future.” “We attempted to do this and work with him so that he could be felt and heard, even if he couldn’t be seen,” you may also say.
In the beginning of this year, Val Kilmer returned his role as Iceman in the film Best Shooter: Maverick. However, owing to a tracheostomy that permanently destroyed his voice, he was only able to film a brief scene with a restricted amount of words for the film.
“I can’t talk until you patch up that gap [in his neck].” “You have to decide if you’re going to eat or breathe,” he told People in the year 2021. “This is a challenge that is always present for anybody who comes into contact with me.”
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