A reboot of the Highlander film franchise has been in development for years, and there talks of a remake date as far back as 2008. When Henry Cavill was announced as the new Highlander lead, it looked like the project might be getting some traction, but that was two years ago, and we’re still waiting. But now it looks like the movie that director Chad Stahelski indicated would be John Wick with swords may really be happening, and I cannot wait.
Deadline reports that Lionsgate is looking to open the new Highlander movie to investors, and said the project is hoping to start filming sometime next year. This is the closest a Highlander reboot film has come to actually happening. John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski has been part of Highlander since 2016, but aside from the casting of Cavill, nothing has happened with it.
I’ve always loved the Highlander franchise, despite the fact that a lot of Highlander is pretty bad — with the exception of the original film, and a fairly solid TV series. Highlander 2 was so terrible they gave it the Snyder Cut treatment decades before the Snyder Cut. But I’ve always felt that Highlander had the potential for a reboot. The world it creates is open to all sorts of possibilities that the movies never really properly explored.
I’m also a massive John Wick fan. As modern action franchises go, there are none I love more, so the fact that Chad Stahelski is at the helm has had me praying this movie would get made before he disappeared like all the previous directors. We will get some absolutely incredible action sequences in this movie, that much is essentially guaranteed. I love a good movie sword fight, and the potential of seeing many of them, all with the style and energy of a John Wick gunfight, is just too exciting to pass up.
Chad Stahelski also knows a thing or two about creating worlds, as the expansive world of John Wick is one of the most entertaining things about the franchise. The world of Immortals in Highlander, similar to the universe of John Wick, is very mysterious, with the audience knowing just enough to keep things interesting.
If it is looking at filming in the next few months we’ll likely hear a lot more about casting, which could give us an indication just what sort of movie we’re going to be getting. Dave Bautista was once rumored to be playing the film’s villain, but that was so long ago that it’s unlikely he’s still attached, though one could certainly do a lot worse.
There have been other false starts with this Highlander movie before. In the end, I won’t be entirely confident we’re getting this movie until production begins, which, of course, requires the actors’ strike to end. However, the studio is ready to sell the movie despite the strike happening, which would seem to indicate Lionsgate is confident this movie is happening, and I can’t wait.