Back in March, Sam Neill revealed he’d been diagnosed with blood cancer, although the Jurassic Park actor clarified afterwards that he’d been in remission for eight months. Still, with such a weighty health battle hanging over his head, one wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that mortality would often be on Neill’s mind. But as it turns out, the man who’s brought Alan Grant to life in three movies is “not remotely afraid” of dying from cancer, as there’s a bigger concern for him.
At the time of this writing, Neill has been in remission from his blood cancer for 12 months, but he’s “not really interested” in it because it’s out of his “control,” and if something’s out of one’s control, then he doesn’t feel a need to “get into it.” On the subject of death, Neill said after getting over the shock of his diagnosis and thinking about mortality, he decided that while death would be “annoying,” it’s the prospect of no longer working that frightens him even more. The actor bluntly summarized his thoughts on retirement as follows:
[That] fills me with horror.
As Sam Neill discussed in an interview with Australian Story, he’s in remission thanks to going in every two weeks for infusions of a rare anti-cancer drug. Neill described the days after these treatments as “very grim and depressing,” and they make him heel like he’s “gone ten rounds with a boxer.” He’s also been told by doctors that someday this drug will stop working, but he’s “prepared for that.”
So between his disinterest pouring too much mental energy into his blood cancer, and his zeal for working, Sam Neill continues to perform onscreen. Last year saw him respectively reprising Alan Grant in Jurassic World Dominion and the Asgardian community’s Odin actor in Thor: Love and Thunder, and this year, he’s appeared in The Portable Door and Assassin Club. His upcoming movies include Scarygirl and Bring Him to Me, and TV-wise, he’s been working on the second season of the Australian series The Twelve, as well as Apples Never Fall, the miniseries adaptation of the Liane Moriarty novel co-starring Annette Bening that will be available to Apple TV+ subscribers, though its production remains paused because of the actors strike.
Although the day will come that Sam Neill’s blood cancer will become untreatable, for now, he has his gaze planted firmly on his professional endeavors, which is admirable. And it’s not as if he’s ignoring the reality of his situation, with the man’s doctor noting that eventually a “third line option” will need to be thought about concerning the disease, and that is “a difficult thing to carry around, day in, day out, waiting for that to happen.” But for now, Neill is “so pleased to be awake” each morning and is taking his life on a day by day basis. Every time he gets over feeling ill from his treatments, he has 10 days where he “could not feel more alive or pleased to be breathing and looking at a blue sky,”
If you’re interested in revisiting Sam Neill’s work in the Jurassic Park franchises, Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III can be streamed with a Peacock subscription, while Jurassic World Dominion, for now, can only be rented or purchased digitally or on physical home media. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled for more stories on how Neill’s professional and personal lives are going.