What Is the Henry Cavill ‘Highlander’ Reboot?

A Highlander reboot has been in the works for years, with Henry Cavill attached to play the lead role. However, details about the Witcher star’s return to the fantasy genre have been few and far between…until now. Director Chad Stahelski, whose name movie audiences will recognize from the massively popular John Wick franchise, is talking about what his version of Highlander will look like.

The original Highlander debuted in 1986 and starred Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, an immortal warrior caught up in a battle with others of his kind to see who would be the last one standing. The movie became so popular that it was followed by five other films and three TV series, all of varying quality and different connections to the original.

But Chad has revealed his vision for Highlander, which may get fans excited again.

Chad spoke to Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast about the Highlander remake, which has been in development since Summit Entertainment bought the franchise rights in 2008. A number of directors, writers and actors have come in and out of the project in the ensuing 15 years, with Chad joining the project in November 2016.

In 2021, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Henry Cavill — who previously portrayed Superman for DC Studios and recently exited the lead role in Netflix’s fantasy series The Witcher — was targeted for the lead role, though it’s unknown if he would be playing Connor or a new character. That’s because Chad sees the film as a prequel, not a straightforward remake.

“We’re trying to do a bit of a prequel — a setup to The Gathering — so we have room to grow the property,” he explained.

He also said that the Highlander reboot will incorporate elements from “all the TV shows.” Adrian Paul starred as Duncan MacLeod in Highlander: The Series from 1992-1998.

That series’ success led to an animated project called Highlander: The Animated Series (1994-1996) and a short-lived spinoff entitled Highlander: The Raven (1998-1999), which starred Elizabeth Gracen as Amanda Darieux.

“I think we have some very good elements now,” Chad enthused. “The trick is when you have the tagline, ‘There can only be one,’ you can’t just kill everybody the first time.”

In an earlier The Hollywood Reporter article, Chad was effusive about why Henry was a strong choice for the Highlander role that had previously been claimed by Ryan Reynolds and at one point earmarked for Tom Cruise.

“Henry was immediately riffing on the idea of the burden of immortality and you could see in his eyes that he can transform himself from being a young, vibrant soul to an old, wise soul,” Chad recalled. “He had this combination I was fascinated by.”

“The other thing you could see was his genuineness. He really loves the property and loves what he believes he can do with it, and when an actor has that level of passion, you’re going to get something unique.”

While the Highlander reboot still has no official release date and remains very much in the development stages, at least fans of Clan MacLeod now have a slightly better idea of what it might look like, as the original Highlander approaches its 40th anniversary.