Willow: Does Val Kilmer Voice Madmartigan in Episode 6?

By Jamie Jirak

There are only two episodes left of Disney+'s Willow series which has seen the return of some actors from the original film. The show has an exciting cast led by Warwick Davis (Willow) and it also includes the 1988 movie's Joanne Whalley (Sorsha) and Kevin Pollak (Rool). Sadly, the series does not feature Val Kilmer as Madmartigen. Kilmer has struggled with his health after a battle with throat cancer, and filming during COVID didn't feel safe, so they ended up having to write him out of the series. However, his presence is felt throughout the show, and this week's episode sort of featured the return of Madmartigen... 

In the episode, Madmartigen's daughter Kit (Ruby Cruz) meets Allagash (Christian Slater) who reveals there is a secret vault in the prison mines that Madmartigan entered before he disappeared. Kit is drawn to the vault and finds her father's sword and hears his voice, begging her for help. Turns out, Kilmer did play a part in Madmartigen's small return. Since the actor was unable to fully record the cameo, his son with Whalley, Jack Kilmer, helped provide Madmartigan's voice in the episode. 

"Jack has been a great friend to Willow all along, you know," showrunner Jonathan Kasdan recently told Decider. "Between Joanne and Val he basically is the child of the Willow franchise." Kasdan added, "We actually recorded with Val and we used his performance as a guide track. Then Jack was given Val's performance to listen to and then copy what his dad had done in terms of you know, the performance elements of Val's thing."

How Did Top: Gun Maverick Inspire Willow?

While Kilmer isn't expected to show up in Willow as Madmartigan, he was seen reprising his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick earlier this year. Kasdan recently revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Kilmer's role in the Top Gun sequel served as inspiration for Willow. 

"Not only did it give us food for thought, but my executive producer, Tommy Harper, was the executive producer of Top Gun: Maverick, so he worked with Val then," Kasdan explained of the film. "I had already met Val when we were setting out to do this thing. We've been talking pretty consistently every day of our lives about how to bring Madmartigan back and how that character can continue to live within the Willow universe. And much of the first season asks the question of what happened to Madmartigan. And when there was a real shot at getting him out to Wales during our first season, we had a very specific moment when that question was going to be answered. But when it became clear that we weren't going to get him out there because of the restrictions that Covid was putting on all of us, we simply pushed the question a little further down the road and continued to build it out in ways that we thought were tantalizing and fun."

Kasdan continued, "Most specifically, we added this old member of his team that felt like he would fit into this sort of Madmartigan school of scoundrels, and the only person we wanted for the part was Christian Slater. And you can imagine my shock when Christian Slater was like, 'Absolutely. Sign me up, give me a sword and I'll kick some ass.' It was one of the most exciting moments ever. And then Christian reached out to Val, and they had some communication. So there was a real sense of family and community around it, and also with Joanne [Whalley]. Joanne and Val have two lovely children together. So this universe exists because of him and because he was that hero for our generation."

The first six episodes of Willow are now streaming on Disney+. 

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