Sam Neill died of pneumonia, according to a statement from his longtime representative, Philip Grenz, shared with Entertainment Weekly two days after the actor’s death. Grenz said he was disclosing the cause specifically to correct inaccurate reporting that had begun circulating, according to Deadline.
What his agent said
Grenz confirmed that Neill’s cancer had already been successfully treated before pneumonia set in. He said Neill had beaten lymphoma through a new treatment called CAR-T therapy, according to Variety, before pneumonia became the actual cause of death. Grenz also addressed the family’s wishes going forward, thanking those close to Neill for respecting his privacy, according to a statement shared with AOL.
How the cancer fight set the stage
Neill had been living with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, for several years before his death. He underwent CAR-T cell therapy, a newer and more advanced cancer treatment, and announced in April 2026 that he was cancer-free. According to people close to him, the years of treatment had left his immune system compromised, making him significantly more vulnerable to an infection like pneumonia even after the cancer itself was gone.
The first public word came from a co-star
Word that Neill had contracted pneumonia surfaced a day before his agent’s official statement, when actor Rima Te Wiata, his co-star and friend from 2016’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople, spoke to the New Zealand Herald. “It really sucks, actually,” she said, reflecting on the fact that Neill had only recently beaten cancer. Neill’s ex-partner, Australian journalist Laura Tingle, separately told the Sydney Morning Herald that he’d been sick for a couple of weeks before he died.
A private farewell, by design
Neill’s family will hold a private memorial at his farm in New Zealand’s Central Otago region, with no public service planned. Grenz said Neill was an intensely private man who never liked a fuss made over him, and that his family intends to honor that in how they say goodbye. No date for the memorial has been set.
How the family is asking people to honor him
In lieu of flowers, Neill’s family has asked that donations go to causes he supported personally: the Dunstan Hospital Foundation, tied to healthcare access in the Central Otago community where he lived; the Snowdome Foundation, where Neill served as a patron advocating for wider access to CAR-T cancer therapy across Australia and New Zealand; or one of several New Zealand conservation charities, including the NZ Nature Fund and Sustainable Tarras.
Remembering him
Tributes continued arriving from across the industry following the news. Steven Spielberg said Neill would never be forgotten by those who worked with him or by his fans, according to Deadline. Bryce Dallas Howard, his Jurassic World: Dominion co-star, wrote that he was exactly who you’d hope he’d be, according to Rolling Stone. Cillian Murphy and Nicole Kidman also shared remembrances of Neill in the days following his death, according to NBC News. Neill had reportedly completed work on four separate projects in the final year of his life, all expected to be released in the coming months, according to TMZ, which first reported the cause of death.
