With the upcoming Highlander reboot moving from Lionsgate to Amazon MGM, fans of the sword-slashing fantasy series are anxious to learn more about whether plans have shifted for the start of production and its release.
The upcoming reboot with Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Witcher) attached to play a Macleod and director Chad Stahelski (John Wick) helming from a script penned by Mike Finch (American Assassin, John Wick: Chapter 4) was first announced in October 2023.
In a quick interview with Collider, Stahelski has shared that the Highlander reboot is his next project and that work is set to begin immediately.
Said Stahelski, "If everything works out in the next 24 hours, we'll be shooting sometime in September. And in 2027 or 2028, you’ll be watching Highlander. "
In a previous interview, Stahelski shared his pitch to Cavill, revealing, "My selling point was, to [Henry Cavill], look, you've got a guy that's been alive for over 500 years. He's the last person in the world that wanted to be in this situation".
"So you get to cover quite a broad spread of a character arc there. And you get to experience someone that's trained over 500 years and sort of played [with many types of] martial arts."
Cavill has a number of irons in the fire at Amazon besides the Highlander reboot. Other projects include starring and leading development on the studio's Warhammer 40,000 cinematic universe and starring in MGM's forthcoming, live-action Voltron movie.
However, based on Stahelski's comments, it seems the first project out the gate will be the Highlander reboot.
Highlander follows a fictional story that asserts that immortals exist, hidden within normal society. They must hunt and kill other immortals by beheading them in a contest known as The Gathering, which will see the last-standing immortal gain ultimate power.
While the origins of the contest is never explicitly explained, the franchise generally takes the stance that immortals have existed since the dawn of time and that the contest between them must only abide by three hard rules:
- combat on Holy Ground is forbidden
- combat must be one on one
- in the end, there can only be one.
The franchise started out as a 1986 action fantasy film which starred Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod. That film went on to spawn 4 sequels.
A spinoff television show premiered in 1992, starring Adrian Paul as Connor's descendant and fellow immortal, Duncan MacLeod.
That show lasted 119 episodes across 6 seasons and spawned two spin-offs of its own.