Val Kilmer was forced to pull out of Willow 'pretty late' due to ill health

Although Val Kilmer was set to reprise his role for the new Willow TV series, he was forced to dip out 'pretty late in the process' due to health concerns.

The 62-year-old actor managed to appear in Top Gun: Maverick, which dropped earlier this year, thanks to some smart thinking assisted by artificial intelligence.

But the same unfortunately couldn't be said for the Disney Plus adventure fantasy show, which is set years after the events of the 1988 Willow movie. You can watch the trailer below:

In the original, Kilmer starred as Madmartigan, a disgraced knight who crosses paths with the titular character – played by Warwick Davis – and ends up joining the protagonist on his quest.

Fans were very much hoping to see the OG return, as was showrunner Jonathan Kasdan.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said: "We really wanted Val to come be in the show. And Val really wanted to come out and be in the show.

"I remember going to see Val right after this thing started to get some momentum, and I said, 'Listen, we're doing this. And the whole world wants Madmartigan back.'

"And he was like, 'Not as much as I do.'"

The reason for the apprehension is that Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015. Since then, he's had a number of treatments including chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

He also underwent tracheostomy surgery, an incision in the neck to help with breathing, which has altered his natural voice.

Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

Thankfully, the Top Gun star is cancer-free, although he now uses a voice box to communicate and previously told the MailOnline that people 'struggle to understand him'.

Nonetheless, he's been determined to continue his acting career, including joining the Willow series.

In fact, Kasdan said Kilmer was up for anything when he went to speak to the star about the show, telling EW: "He embraced me when I left.

"He picked me up, and he said, 'See? I'm still super strong.' And I was like, 'Great.'

"We started building out the first season with the intent of having him appear."

But then the pandemic struck and threw a hefty spanner in the works, with the showrunner adding that it wasn't clear they couldn't include him 'until pretty late in the process'.

Kasdan continued: "As Covid overtook the world, it became insurmountable.

"We were prepping in the spring of the year that it was most happening. And Val reluctantly didn't feel he could come out.

"We had to figure out a way to preserve the story we wanted to tell with him about how his story was playing out."

Paramount Pictures

The series premiered on Disney Plus yesterday (30 November), and fans are loving what they've seen so far.

Although they're sad about the missing Madmartigan, that's not to say we won't be seeing him further down the line if a second season gets the green light.

"We wanted to leave open the door to any possibility in the future and also honor the spirit of him," said Kasdan.

"We've tried to do that and work with him in a way so that he is felt and heard, if not seen."