Val Kilmer Was Going To Be In The Willow Series Up Until The Last Minute

Created by “Willow” co-writer and producer George Lucas, Madmartigan is, as he’s been described by /Film in the past, a “copyright safe Han Solo,” but dangit if he’s not a fun one! Once again, much of the credit for that belongs to Val Kilmer, who made the character feel fresh in a way that doesn’t readily come across on paper. 

“We really wanted Val to come be in the show,” Jonathan Kasdan told Entertainment Weekly. “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.'”

Kilmer was in high spirits when Kasdan left. He even picked the creative up to show he’s still “super strong,” as Kasdan put it. “We started building out the first season with the intent of having him appear,” Kasdan added. Then came the pandemic, which created a whole new set of obstacles that Kilmer hadn’t been forced to deal with back when he starred in another legacy sequel to a nostalgic 1980s hit: “Top Gun: Maverick.” This was also the deal-breaker for his return, Kasdan confirmed:

“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.”