Highlander Reboot Officially Moving Forward With Henry Cavill in Starring Role

John Wick director Chad Stahelski has been discussing his passion for developing a reboot of the iconic ’80s fantasy movie Highlander for years, and now Deadline has confirmed that the project is officially moving forward. The outlet also confirmed that Henry Cavill, who was previously reported as being attached, is still set to star, while also detailing that the project is expected to be a big-budget fantasy experience. The most recent version of the script comes from Mike Finch, and while development has likely been hampered these last few months due to the writers’ strike, the production is reportedly hoping for a 2024 start date, even while the actors’ strike still looms.

The original 1986 movie starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown, which explored a world in which immortals were hunting each other down in contemporary New York City, with the origins of these warriors going back centuries. That debut film earned itself four sequels, as well as inspired multiple TV series, animated projects, and comic book expansions. 

One reason that Stahelski claimed the project has taken so long to develop is that, as opposed to something like John Wick, which carves its own path forward with each sequel, his Highlander reboot aims to honor all corners of the brand’s mythology.

“I’ve worked on Highlander for years now, for Henry Cavill. Being retroactive is hard,” Stahelski shared with Deadline earlier this year. “What’s different between Wick and that? With Wick, you weren’t serving seven seasons of TV plus two spinoffs plus five films. If I were to do a remake of Highlander right now, you’d expect a lot of mythology in those first two hours; you couldn’t explore stuff without it. Now, Highlander as a TV show now would be amazing. You’d have time to build it out, see all those flashbacks and the potential of it. It’s trickier when you’re trying to do something with that big of a mythology. But I agree, that would be one to take a really big stab at. Here, we just had the opportunity to really learn as we went on with Wick.”

Given the disappointment that audiences had over Cavill exiting his fantasy series The Witcher, fans will likely be thrilled to see Cavill picking up a sword again for an all-new adventure.

Stay tuned for updates on the Highlander reboot.

Are you excited that the project is finally moving forward? Let us know in the comments!