‘The Goldbergs’ to Pay Tribute to ‘Highlander’ With Clancy Brown Guest Starring

Creator of The Goldbergs Adam Goldberg grew up in the ’80s and has drawn multiple memories from his own life to craft the sitcom’s narrative. In next week’s episode, fans can expect an homage to Highlander, including a guest appearance from one of the film’s stars, Clancy Brown.

“Ever since The Goldbergs began, one of my dreams was to write an homage to Highlander,” Goldberg shared in a statement. “In high school, I was so obsessed with the movie that I started an actual Highlander club with my two best friends Mike Levy and David Sirota. What began as a few geeks hitting each other with swords we made in wood shop soon became a school-wide game with 20 people playing. It became so disruptive that the administration had to shut it down.”

The original 1986 action-fantasy film chronicled an ages-old battle between immortal warriors, with Brown playing the murderous villain The Kurgan. The film inspired five sequels and multiple TV series.

“My Highlander obsession never died and it’s why I ended up casting Clancy Brown as Mr. Crosby the shop teacher two years ago,” Goldberg pointed out. “I’ve been a longtime fan of his talent and The Goldbergs marks his first network comedy. It was perfectly fitting to put Clancy Brown — The Kurgan — in our Highlander episode which I’ve been waiting to tell ever since the show began.”

The film earned a passionate following, thanks not only to its blend of action, adventure, and fantasy, but also thanks to its soundtrack, which was crafted by Queen.

“We not only perfectly replicated the costumes and sword choreography, we got Queen’s approval to use their song from the soundtrack,” Goldberg confessed. “It’s one of my favorite episodes we’ve ever made, and I can safely say the only Highlander sitcom episode that’s been made!”

This might not be the only Highlander content on the horizon, as John Wick director Chad Stahelski recently shared that he is still moving forward with a planned reboot of the property.

“We’re trying to get it done. Anyone who knows anything about the property knows it has a lot of meat to it. It’s a good property. It’s got a lot of potential,” Stahelski shared with Collider. “We’re just trying to figure out the best way not to f-ck it up. Not to try and fit it into a one hour, 45-minute movie, which, when your pitch is, ‘There can be only one,’ and in your first movie you kill everybody but the one, sequels have a problem of happening. So we’re trying to design in a way that gives us a little more lead in, a little more time with the mythology and see some of the best characters.”

He continued, “They did seven seasons of TV, and even though the TV show may not hold up today, the idea of it and the characters they brought in were super cool. So we’re trying to devise a methodology that leads up to The Quickening. You just don’t end with a one-on-one battle in New York, cut off a guy’s head, and that’s it. We want to do this in such a way that it becomes more of a series whether it’s short form or long form that would let us explore that in the best way. I have a huge, heartfelt love and respect for the project, so we’re trying to find the best way to do it to give fans what they want.”

Tune in to the Highlander tribute on The Goldbergs this Wednesday, February 20th on ABC-TV at 8 p.m. ET.

Are you looking forward to Brown’s appearance? Let us know in the comments below!

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