Sam Neill shares cancer update after year in remission

The New Zealander revealed he had been in remission for more than a year in an Australian Story episode that aired on October 16.

"I'm not in any way frightened of dying, it's never worried me from the beginning, but I would be annoyed because there are things I still want to do," he said.

"Very irritating, dying, but I'm not afraid of it."

Mr Neill was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive blood cancer in 2022 and underwent "brutal" chemotherapy for a few months before doctors discovered it wasn't working.

"I didn't really know how long I had to live," he said.

Then he was put on a new drug and "to everybody's surprise it started to work".

Mr Neill has returned to work in earnest for the first time since his health scare, saying the idea of retirement fills him with "horror".

"To not be able to do the things you love would be heartbreaking," he said.

"But I've also got to be realistic in that one doctor said to me, this stuff will stop working one day too, so I'm prepared for that. I'm ready for it."

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Speaking on social media after the episode aired, Mr Neill said he planned to be in remission for many years to come.

"I'll bore you to death with lots more work and at such time as it does fail we'll try something else."

The news of his cancer battle was revealed when he released a memoir earlier in 2023, a writing project he took up during his treatment.

Mr Neill said he would be on the drugs that were keeping him in remission for the rest of his life.

"Every two weeks I go and get beaten up again, it's like going 10 rounds with a boxer - but it's keeping me alive and being alive is infinitely preferable to the alternative."