A couple of years ago, it was revealed that Man of Steel star Henry Cavill had been tapped to star in a new Highlander movie. The franchise has been on the shelf for years, but the likes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Witcher have given the British actor a solid footing in the fantasy realm.
John Wick director Chad Stahelski remains attached to helm a movie that will be a modern retelling of Connor MacLeod's centuries-old feud with his fellow powerful immortals. They're fighting to the death in an effort to absorb each other's powers because, and we're sure the concept will be familiar to you even if you haven't watched the 1986 original.
After all, there can be "only one."
Talking to Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz, Stahelski shared an update on where things stand with the project and confirmed it will be a prequel. It also sounds like many of the character's past adventures will be key to the filmmaker's approach.
"I think we have some very good elements now. The trick is when you have the tagline 'there can only be one,' you can’t just kill everybody the first time," he explains. "I’ll say it for you first, our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that."
"But we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we’re trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property."
Various iterations of a new Highlander movie have existed since 2008, with everyone from Justin Lin to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo attached at one time or another. Now, though, it feels like the prequel/reboot is actually starting to take shape.
The strikes will have inevitably slowed things down, of course, but with both Superman and Geralt of Riva behind Cavill, scheduling issues are unlikely to stop him from beginning work on Highlander the moment Stahelski is ready to get cameras rolling.
Are you excited for this new approach to the beloved franchise?