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Val Kilmer’s portrayal of Madmartigan in the 1988 fantasy film Willow, remains one of his most popular roles. Due to health issues, Kilmer couldn’t reprise the character in the Willow series, originally released on Disney+ in 2022. Instead, his son, Jack Kilmer, voiced Madmartigan, ensuring the character lived on.
Willow the movie has special meaning for the Kilmer family: Val Kilmer met and later married actress Joanne Whalley while they were making the film.
Their son, the actor Jack Kilmer, who was born in 1995, grew up conscious of the film’s legacy. When the opportunity to work on the new Willow series presented itself, Jack, not surprisingly, accepted the chance to help preserve his father’s place in the story.
The reason Val Kilmer could not reprise the role in the series was throat cancer, which had limited his speaking ability. The actor passed away on April 1, 2025, aged 65, in Los Angeles, due to complications from pneumonia, his daughter, Mercedes said in a statement to The New York Times.
To solve the problem of Val’s availability during the series, Jack Kilmer was drafted in as the voice of Madmartigan in two pivotal episodes, Prisoners of Skellin and Children of the Wyrm. Jack Kilmer explained how the whole thing came together in a recent Interview with Coming Soon:
"I just got to sit … it was really like I got to go to Warner Brothers and hang out with Jon Kasdan and just talk about the legacy of it." Jack Kilmer added: "And then he was like, ‘Well, can you help with these lines?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure. I’ll take a crack at it.’ And so it became a little Easter egg in there."
The show’s director, Jonathan Kasdan, was apparently fascinated by the deep connection between Willow and the Kilmer family, he said.
More about the Madmartigan character and the Willow series
The 1988 fantasy classic Willow, directed by Ron Howard and produced by George Lucas, introduced the audience that became popular, , Warwick Davis’ Willow Ufgood, Joanne Whalley’s Sorsha, and Val Kilmer’s swordsman, Madmartigan.
The 2022 series takes place 200 moons after the film, with Sorsha now queen and mother to twins, Kit (Ruby Cruz) and Airk (Dempsey Bryk), by Madmartigan. The swordsman, however, is mysteriously missing.
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Kasdan noted that young heroes searching for their identities are at the heart of the story, which makes Madmartigan’s absence a key mystery. His legacy is woven into the characters’ journeys, especially those of his children.
His past, and the placed he has been to, are revealed through flashbacks from Willow throughout the series, adding depth to the adventure. The audience just gets to hear the swordsman's voice begging for help, when Kit finds her father's sword in a vault.
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