“Jurassic Park” star Sam Neill has announced that he is cancer-free after a nearly five-year battle with stage 3 blood cancer.
“I’ve been living with a certain type of lymphoma for about five years, and it’s kept me alive despite chemotherapy and a pretty miserable job,” Neil, best known for his role as Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park series, told Australia’s Network 7 News about his treatment.
At one point, after the chemotherapy stopped working, “I was at a loss and it looked like I was coming to the end, which obviously wasn’t ideal,” he continued.
Neil said he is now cancer-free after undergoing cutting-edge treatment to genetically modify his blood cells. “I just had a test and there was no cancer in my body, which is amazing,” he said. “We are very excited to be able to make this happen.”
The actor even plans to return to the big screen, saying, “It’s time to do another movie.”
Neil is now advocating for a treatment called CAR T-cell therapy to be rolled out across his native Australia. Currently used only in clinical trials.
The actor first went public with his diagnosis in 2023, after being diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma after first experiencing a swollen gland the previous year while promoting Jurassic World Dominion. Neil reprized his role as Grant in the 2022 film, which also co-stars original co-stars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, as well as series debutants Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
“I’m not scared of dying, but it would be a nuisance,” Neil said at the time. “I mean, we really want another 10 or 20 years, don’t we? We’ve built all these nice terraces, and we’ve got olive trees and cypresses. I want to see them grow. And I’ve got cute little grandchildren, too. I want to see them grow. But I don’t care about the dying.”
