Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has shared an “extraordinary” health update, after undergoing a cutting-edge scientific process to help fight his cancer.
Back in 2023, the 78-year-old movie star announced he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer that he has since spent years fighting with regular chemotherapy. However, Neill has said his treatment sadly got to the point where it was no longer working — leaving him with little option but to begin a new clinical trial.
“I was on chemotherapy,” Neill told 7News, via Entertainment Weekly. “Pretty miserable business, but it was keeping me alive,” he continued, before revealing that after years of treatment, he was then told the chemotherapy had suddenly stopped working. “I was at a loss, and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal, obviously,” he added.
Thankfully, Neill was able to try CAR T-cell therapy — a form of immunotherapy that genetically modifies a patient’s T-cells to recognize and attack cancer at the source. Patients undergoing the treatment first have a sample of their own white blood cells collected, which are then reprogrammed to “see” the cancer cells and kill them off once re-infused back into the body.
“I’ve had a scan just now, and there is no cancer in my body. This is an extraordinary thing,” Neil said. “Science at its best.”
The past few months have seen Neill back in action once more, reuniting with his former Jurassic Park co-stars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum for a Super Bowl commercial that also featured some fairly wonky digital de-aging technology.
“It’s time I did another movie,” Neill has said now — something that few of his fans will argue with. But while he’s not yet set for another Jurassic World return, the actor is still about to grapple with legendary beasts once more — in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, due for launch in 2027.
Image credit: Chris Hyde/Getty Images for AFI.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
