The following contains spoilers for Willow Season 1, Episode 6, "Chapter VI: Prisoners of Skellin," now streaming on Disney+.
When Willow was announced as a TV series, fans were curious to find out how Val Kilmer's Madmartigan would factor in. Kilmer, after all, lost use of his voice due to throat cancer, although it didn't stop him from making a cameo in Top Gun: Maverick. However, while that story worked in the disease, Willow has Madmartigan as a legend, albeit one who's been missing for years from the kingdom of Tir Asleen.
It led to many suspecting maybe CGI or de-aging technology would be used, while some posited the show would kill him off as his daughter, Kit, searches for him and her brother, Airk. Come the latest episode, Madmartigan has finally returned to the property, and it's all due to the help of Kilmer's son, Jack.
Willow Revives Madmartigan in Skellin
Earlier this season, Queen Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) revealed that she sent Madmartigan to find the mythical armor, the Kymerian cuirass. She felt it could help protect Elora Danan from the evil Crone and her cult, but only Madmartigan's seedy squire, Boorman, survived. Coincidentally, Boorman is now redeeming himself, working with Kit to find Madmartigan and Sorsha's son, while hoping to attain the cuirass, too.
It leads to Kit and Willow being imprisoned by trolls in the Dread Mines of Skellin. Thankfully, Boorman and Co. rescue them, with the aid of one of Madmartigan's other buddies, Allagash (Christian Slater). Their journey then takes them to a secret vault Madmartigan entered years back. Boorman and Allagash find the armor, but while they fight over it, Kit enters the chamber.
Kit discovers her father’s sword and as she takes it up, she hears him begging for help. He almost succeeds in beckoning her to a magical underworld, but Jade (Kit's crush) and Elora pull her back, sensing this could be a trap that leads her to another jail. Or worse, death. This leaves Kit angry when they all escape, only to fall into a scary pond as her emotions boil over to end the episode.
Willow Uses Both Val and Jack Kilmer
The voice heard as Kit stares into the ethereal light is that of Kilmer and Whalley's (his ex-wife) real-life son, Jack. "Jack has been a great friend to Willow all along, you know," showrunner Jonathan Kasdan revealed to Decider. "Between Joanne and Val, he basically is the child of the Willow franchise."
"We actually recorded with Val, and we used his performance as a guide track," Kasdan confirmed. "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." It's a clever way of adding authenticity to the cameo, as Jack does have some elements of sounding like his dad, which the technical and creative team would no doubt polish. That said, it has fans wondering where Madmartigan is, if he's really alive and if Kit will find the iconic, swashbuckling swordsman from the 1980s, which would be the ultimate moment for nostalgics of this cult-favorite franchise.
Willow debuts new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.