The Highlander remake is beginning to take shape, with Marisa Abela joining the cast in a leading role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Abela will play a new character not seen in the 1986 original, and her name hasn’t been revealed yet. She is one of the movie’s immortal warriors — a former teacher and lover to the main character Connor MacLeod, who will be played by Henry Cavill. Russell Crowe has also been cast as Ramirez, the Spanish swordsman played by Sean Connery in the original. The movie will begin filming in September, but it’s not clear yet when we might see it for ourselves.
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Amazon MGM Studios is remaking Highlander with writer Michael Finch and director Chad Stahelski. Insiders told THR that Finch’s script has some notable differences from the original, attempting to deepen the worldbuilding and explain the concept of these immortals in more detail. It also adds several new immortal characters, including the one played by Abela.
Abela is a 28-year-old British actress best known for starring in the BBC drama Industry, which is heading into its fourth season. She also played Amy Winehouse in last year’s biopic Back to Black, and in 2023 she played “Teen Talk Barbie” in Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie movie. In Highlander, she will reportedly play one of several new immortals from different times and places around the world.
Highlander follows Connor MacLeod, a medieval Scottish Highlander who discovers that he has the rare gift of immortality. He is taken under the wing of Ramirez, another immortal who reveals that they are compelled to seek out and battle other immortals, and they can only be killed by beheading. Eventually, all the immortals will be drawn together for “the Gathering,” where they will face off in one final fight for “the Prize.” The Gathering winds up happening in New York City in 1985.
The original movie was a commercial flop, but it gained a huge cult following, and in the years that followed, it showed surprising cultural impact, especially in geek culture. However, sequels and spinoffs generally continued to underperform financially. Plans for a full-on reboot have been underway since 2008, but this version featuring Cavill has been moving ahead since 2021.
Hopefully this remake can live up to the legacy of the original. There’s no word yet on when it may premiere, but in the meantime, Highlander (1986) is streaming now on Peacock and Prime Video.
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