willow showrunner jonathan kasdan has explained why val kilmer doesnt return in the new disney plus show which is currently dropping a new episode weekly kilmer played madmartigan in the original 1988 lucasfilm movie we really wanted val to come be in the show 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 were doing this and the whole world wants madmartigan back and he was like not as much as i do but as kasdan explained the pandemic unfortunately got in the way of a madmartigan return as covid overtook the world it became insurmountable the showrunner said we were prepping in the spring of the year that it was most happening and val reluctantly didnt 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 outluckily this doesnt mean that kilmer cant come back at all though we wanted to leave open the door to any possibility in the future and also honor the spirit of him kasdan said weve tried to do that and work with him in a way so that he is felt and heard if not seenin a recent conversation with total film kasdan talked more about madmartigan one of the things i love about the movie is that ive never seen anyone like madmartigan in a fantasy before kasdan commented madmartigan sounded different he didnt try to do a british accent he was a completely new version of what a character in that world could look like and that spirit really is something we tried to carry through into the show but do it in a way that was contemporary to this moment the way val had been contemporary in 1988willow is streaming on disney plus now if youre all caught up you can fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best tv shows on disney plus todays best disney dealsdisney monthly799mthviewat disneydisney yearly7990yearviewat disney