Last week Lucasfilm released the first fantastic teaser trailer for the upcoming Disney+ Willow sequel series, which is being developed by Ron Howard and Jonathan Kasdan. I loved what I saw in the trailer, but I’ve been wondering if Val Kilmer’s character Madmartigan would be involved. While he was absent in the trailer, Kasdan has confirmed that Kilmer is very much involved with the project, and his character will be included in the story!
During a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Kasdan shared:
“Val’s a huge part of this, and the first conversation I had, when Warwick and I got the greenlight to do this, was with Val. We wanted his character to be a part of the story. We wanted him to be in the show.”
Well, this is just wonderful and welcome news! Joanne Whalley is reprising her role as Queen Sorsha, the daughter of the evil Queen Bavmorda, as well as the adoptive mother of Elora Danan, the infant from the original movie. Madmartigan and Sorsha are also the parents of the new lead character in the series, Princess Kit (Ruby Cruz), and her missing twin brother.
Kasdan went on to say that Kilmer was unable to travel to the set in Wales to shoot his scenes because he’s been fighting throat cancer for years. It’s explained:
“Because we were shooting during [the COVID-19 lockdowns], he wasn’t able to come to Wales and shoot with us. But he is in the show in a big way. And we’re pretty excited about it. Madmartigan lives on.”
Star of the series, Warwick Davis added that Kilmer’s “spirit is very much with the series” and called his former co-star “a terrific guy. I still attribute me getting through the film to Val. He kept my spirits up when conditions were really treacherous and difficult. I was cold, wet, tired. He kept me laughing, kept the whole thing fun.”
The epic fantasy adventure is set in an age of swords, sorcery, myths, and monsters, and it will hit Disney+ on November 30th!