Highlander Video Poster Concept – AI Generated Image
Steel sings. Time bends. And somewhere between the mist of the Highlands and the neon glare of a modern metropolis, an immortal steps back into the arena.
“There can be only one.” But in 2026 and beyond, the real question is: can there be a Highlander bold enough to earn that line all over again?
The Return of a Cult Legend — Why Highlander Still Matters
Some films don’t merely age — they mythologise. The original Highlander wasn’t just an ‘80s fantasy-action oddity with thunderbolts, trench coats and beheadings; it was a swaggering cocktail of romance, tragedy, history and pop spectacle. A story about immortality that felt strangely human. A franchise built on the delicious arrogance of its own tagline, and the sincerity to make you believe it.
Strip it down and the premise is gloriously primal: immortals walk among us, drawn into cyclical conflict across centuries, until the endgame arrives — “The Prize.” It’s fantasy as street fight, mythology with a punk grin. That concept has never stopped being adaptable; it just needed the right hands. And now it has them.
The New Highlander: A Modern Epic with Old Blood in Its Veins
The upcoming Highlander movie isn’t being positioned as a polite museum restoration. This is shaping up like a full-throttle reinvention — the kind that takes the emotional core of the original and rebuilds its architecture with contemporary scale, global locations, and (crucially) action craftsmanship designed for an audience raised on precision violence.
At the centre stands Henry Cavill, cast as Connor MacLeod, stepping into boots that are historically muddy and culturally iconic. Around him: a stacked ensemble, a director with a near-obsessive relationship to choreography, and a studio situation that signals franchise ambition rather than one-and-done nostalgia.
Director Chad Stahelski: The “John Wick” Mindset Meets Immortal Myth
If you want to understand why this reboot has generated genuine curiosity rather than the usual remake fatigue, start with Chad Stahelski. His reputation isn’t built on noise — it’s built on clarity. The John Wick films didn’t merely stage action; they authored a language for it. Every movement read like character. Every hit had rhythm. Every fight was a story with bruises.
Highlander is an ideal playground for that sensibility because sword combat isn’t just combat — it’s ritual. It’s identity. It’s personal. And Stahelski has openly framed this new version as something that can expand into a larger universe, which is exactly what the property has always threatened to become when handled with enough conviction.
The Studio Shift: Bigger Backing, Bigger Intent
One of the most telling developments behind the scenes is the project’s move into the orbit of Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists, with the new version described in reporting as a theatrical release play. That matters: it suggests confidence in scale, audience pull, and long-term value — the kind of backing that tends to come with franchise thinking rather than “content pipeline” thinking.
In other words: this isn’t being treated like a curiosity. It’s being treated like an event.
The Cast: A Clash of Icons, Scene-Stealers, and Serious Firepower
Reboot casting can feel like algorithmic shopping. This doesn’t. This feels like a deliberate effort to build a modern Highlander ensemble with weight — performers who can sell the myth, the romance, and the brutality.
Henry Cavill as Connor MacLeod
Cavill has the physical credibility (obviously), but what makes him intriguing here is the melancholy he can bring when the material allows it. Connor isn’t just a warrior — he’s a survivor of time. An immortal who keeps living long after the people he loves are dust. You need an actor who can carry both the mythic posture and the private grief behind the eyes.
Cavill has also spoken publicly about how demanding the swordwork is expected to be, framing it as a step beyond what audiences have previously seen from him. That kind of talk is marketing, sure — but it also signals something else: commitment. And Highlander needs commitment more than it needs cleverness.
Russell Crowe as Ramirez
Casting Russell Crowe as Ramirez is a fascinating pivot point. The original film’s mentor figure carried flamboyance, swagger and mystery — a man who feels like a legend before he even speaks. Crowe brings gravitas by default, but he also has a mischievous streak when he’s enjoying himself. That combination could make this Ramirez less “eccentric immortal uncle” and more “ancient force with a dangerous sense of humour.”
And yes, part of the fun here is the echo: an Oscar-winning gladiator stepping into a sword-and-myth role that practically demands charisma.
Dave Bautista as The Kurgan
If you’re rebooting Highlander, you don’t cast the villain lightly. The Kurgan isn’t merely an antagonist; he’s a walking apocalypse. The embodiment of immortality without soul. Dave Bautista has the size and intimidation, but more importantly, he has the ability to suggest intelligence behind the menace — the sense that this monster enjoys the hunt because he understands what it means.
This is key: The best Highlander villain isn’t a brute. He’s a predator with patience. A centuries-old killer who has learned what humans fear, and uses it like perfume.
Karen Gillan, Marisa Abela, Djimon Hounsou, Max Zhang, Jeremy Irons
The supporting cast being reported for the film is a blend of sharp modern talent and heavyweight presence. Karen Gillan brings emotional steel and wit; Marisa Abela suggests a contemporary dramatic edge; Djimon Hounsou adds mythic gravitas (he can look like history itself); Max Zhang hints at high-level martial artistry; and Jeremy Irons is the kind of casting that instantly raises the threat level of any secretive faction, antagonist, or power broker the story introduces.
Put bluntly: this is not a cast assembled to “get the job done.” It’s a cast assembled to build a world.
Story & Setting: From the Highlands to a Global, Modern Battleground
Perhaps the most significant creative clue so far is the reported timeline and geography. Stahelski has discussed bringing the story forward from early historical centuries into “beyond” present-day settings, with modern city backdrops including New York and Hong Kong cited in coverage of his comments.
That shift matters because it reframes what Highlander can look and feel like in 2025+ cinema. Hong Kong is not just a location — it’s a legacy of action cinema. A place where choreography is culture. If this reboot truly leans into that, we could be looking at a film that treats sword fighting not as cosplay, but as cinematic identity: the collision of European myth with Asian action discipline, staged at blockbuster scale.
The eternal challenge, of course, is balance. Highlander must feel ancient and modern at once. Its characters should carry centuries like scars. If the reboot gets this right, every flashback won’t feel like exposition — it’ll feel like haunting.
Action Expectations: Swordplay as Character, Not Decoration
With Stahelski, the action is unlikely to be “big” in the generic sense. It will likely be specific. The kind of specificity that makes you believe in skill, history, fatigue. Expect blade work that has progression — where Connor doesn’t just fight, he learns; where styles change across time; where different immortals carry different philosophies of violence.
And because this franchise literally revolves around decapitation as the final punctuation, the reboot has an opportunity to make its violence feel consequential rather than cartoonish. Done well, the head-taking isn’t gore — it’s mythology. A brutal sacrament. The ending of a centuries-long rivalry in a single, irreversible stroke.
Music: The Queen Question — and Why the Answer Matters
There are film soundtracks, and then there are cultural signatures. Queen’s music didn’t merely accompany Highlander; it fused to it. The moment you hear that sound, you can practically see lightning and steel.
Stahelski has said the reboot will use Queen music in some form — a promise that suggests the film understands what fans actually cling to. Not plot details. Not lore diagrams. Vibe. Feeling. The emotional electricity that made the original more than the sum of its wonderfully weird parts.
The smart move would be to avoid simply copying the old beats. Recontextualise. Let Queen crash into the modern world like an immortal memory. If this reboot is truly leaping from the Highlands into neon cities, the soundtrack can become the bridge between eras.
Production Status: What We Know, What’s Delayed, and Why It Could Help
The reboot has been circling the screen for years, and even recently its schedule has shifted again. Reporting in 2025 tied delays to Cavill being injured during training, with production now expected to begin later than originally planned — into early 2026 territory depending on recovery and scheduling.
Normally, “delay” is a dirty word. But with a property like Highlander, delay can be a gift if it protects quality. This isn’t a concept that survives half-hearted worldbuilding. It needs coherent rules, emotional clarity, and action sequences engineered, rehearsed, and refined until they feel inevitable.
If the end result is a film that feels authored rather than assembled, the wait will be worth it. Especially if the aim is a theatrical event release window later in the decade.
Will It Be a Remake, a Reinvention, or the Start of Something Bigger?
The most exciting possibility is that this new Highlander doesn’t treat the 1986 film as a sacred text — but as a mythic template. That means keeping the emotional pillars (love, loss, loneliness, destiny) while rebuilding the surface story for a modern audience and a modern franchise model.
The inclusion of groups like the Watchers in franchise mythology, the global settings, and the studio interest in expandable IP all point toward a film designed to do more than tell one story. It wants to open a door.
The danger is obvious: universe-building can become homework. The opportunity is rarer: if you build a world where immortality actually feels like a burden, then spin-offs stop being content and start being consequence.
What This Reboot Needs to Get Right
1) Immortality must feel emotional, not just cool
The franchise doesn’t endure because swords are fun (they are). It endures because living forever is heartbreaking. If the reboot makes Connor’s immortality feel like a gift, it’s already dead. It must feel like a curse you learn to carry with style.
2) The villain must be iconic
The Kurgan can’t be a generic heavy. He must be mythic. The kind of character who makes you feel the centuries like pressure in the air when he enters a room.
3) The film must be romantic in the classical sense
Not “rom-com romantic.” Romantic like storms and poetry and doomed love. Romantic like a man watching the world change until he barely recognises it — and still fighting anyway.
4) The action must be storytelling
Stahelski’s greatest strength is that his violence usually reveals character. If he brings that discipline to swords, Highlander could finally become what fans have always imagined: a myth told through choreography.
The Verdict (For Now): A Reboot with Real Teeth
There’s a reason this Highlander reboot keeps returning to the conversation: the ingredients are unusually strong. A director whose action credibility is basically unquestioned. A lead actor who seems hungry for the physical and emotional challenge. A cast that hints at scale and seriousness. A modern setting that could give the mythology fresh voltage. And a creative promise — Queen — that signals respect for the franchise’s soul.
No release date is locked in as of this writing, and the production timetable has shifted. But if the target is the late-2020s as suggested by industry reporting, that window could be exactly what this needs: time to forge the blade properly.
Because the true test won’t be whether the reboot is louder, slicker, or more expensive than the original. The true test is simpler — and harder:
When the sword rises… will you feel something?
