Sam Neill has issued an “extraordinary” update about his health, four years after he was diagnosed with stage three cancer.
The Jurassic Park alum, 78, was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in 2022. He’s been open about his treatment, writing in his 2023 memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, that he was taking a “brutal” form of chemotherapy every month.
During a new interview with Australia’s 7News, Neill reflected on the challenges of living with the disease for so many years.
“I was on chemotherapy and the pretty miserable business but it was keeping me alive,” he said. “Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal, obviously.”
However, his condition started to change after he discovered CAR T-cell therapy, which 7News said is a treatment that “genetically modifies patients’ blood cells” and is only being used in clinical trials in Australia.
“I’ve had a scan just now, and there is no cancer in my body. This is an extraordinary thing,” Neill revealed.
Hematologist Miles Prince shared more details about the treatment, explaining: “[We] turbocharge those cells to then be able to now recognize the myeloma, which was not visible to the immune system before and then jump on it and kill it .”
Neill applauded his cancer treatment before sharing what the positive news could mean for his career. “It’s science at its best,” he said. “It’s time I did another movie.”
The New Zealand actor has previously spoken about the advances being made in his cancer treatment. During a conversation with Kate Thornton, for a 2024 episode of her White Wine Question Time podcast, he said he was “hard and enjoying life immensely,” after he took a short break from acting.
“I’m in remission and as you see,” the Event Horizon and Possession star said. “I’m very grateful for not just the wonderful care I’ve had from doctors and nurses and so on, but also the strides that have been made in treating these things in the last few years.”
“If this had happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be around to talk to you. I go in (for treatment) once a month now,” he added. “But it used to be three times a month and it’s down to once a month now. You have sort of three or four horrible days afterwards, and then all is well and you cheer up and I go to the gym and all that.”
During his acting career, Neill was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the 1980s series Reilly, Ace Of Spies and an Emmy as the titular wizard in 1998’s Merlin opposite Fight Club actress Helena Bonham Carter and the late James Earl Jones, known for portraying Darth Vader in Star Wars.
He also starred in the period drama The Piano, which won best original screenplay at the Oscars in 1993, and as Major Chester Campbell in BBC crime drama Peaky Blinders alongside Cillian Murphy.
