Marvel star Chris Hemsworth recently revealed that he has a genetic predisposition toward Alzheimer’s disease. Hemsworth discovered the prognosis while filming his limited series Limitless for National Geographic on Disney +, which focuses on the science of aging. 

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hemsworth describes how he learned of his disposition toward the disease: 

“They took all my bloodwork and did a bunch of tests, and the plan was to on-camera tell me all the results and then talk about how you can improve this and that.” Hemsworth continues, “And Peter Attia, who is the longevity doctor in that episode, and overseeing a lot of the show, called [“Limitless” creator] Darren [Aronofsky] and said, ‘I don’t want to tell him this on camera. We need to have an off-side conversation and see if he even wants this to be in the show.’ It was pretty shocking because he called me up and he told me.” 

After hearing the news, Hemsworth began to question how to move forward. 

“There was an intensity to navigating it. Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death in the hope that we’ll somehow avoid it.” Hemsworth added, “We all have this belief that we’ll figure it out. Then to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in.” 

The show waits to reveal the diagnosis until the last episode of its run. Hemsworth, however, is grateful for the opportunity to reevaluate the course of his life with his career and family. 

“Doing an episode on death and facing your own mortality made me go, ‘Oh God, I’m not ready to go yet.’” He continues,“I want to sit and be in this space with a greater sense of stillness and gratitude. And then you start talking about kids and family and going, ‘Oh my God, they’re getting older, they’re growing up and I keep slapping another movie on top of another movie.’ Before you know it, they’re 18 and they’ve moved out of house, and I missed the window.”

Hemsworth is set to appear in Extraction 2 and Mad Max prequel Furiosa as Immortan Joe.