The famous saying about how there “can be only one” does not apply to the Highlander franchise. Henry Cavill is set to take over the role of Connor MacLeod in an all-new Highlander movie, which has just gotten an exciting production update.
While Cavill leads the cast as the new MacLeod, he’ll be joined by Dave Bautista as the villain, Kurgan, with Russell Crowe also starring as Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, MacLeod’s mentor. While at the Taormina Film Festival this weekend, Crowe addressed the current status of the Highlander reboot, per Variety. He revealed that he’s completely wrapped up with filming, suggesting the new fantasy flick is finally on track to see the light of day after spending years in development hell.
Russell Crowe Has Wrapped Filming on Highlander
“I just finished the shoot of Highlander,” Crowe shared. “It’s an Amazon production, and it’s going to be fantastic. It’s by Chad Stahelski, who directed all the John Wick movies, so you know [he] is incapable of directing a film that is not exciting.”
With Stahelski directing, the reboot was written by Kerry Williamson and Mike Finch. Other confirmed stars for the new movie include Marisa Abela (Back to Black), Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy), Djimon Hounsou (A Quiet Place: Day One), Jeremy Irons (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Max Zhang (The Invincible Dragon), and WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre (The Killer’s Game).
The reboot has already spent several years spinning its wheels in pre-production, so it’s a major moment for the project to finally complete filming. Cavill was first cast in the role of Connor MacLeod back in 2021, but it wasn’t until last year, when Crowe’s casting was also announced, that the new Highlander film finally started to gain some traction. Filming officially started in January of this year in Scotland, though this followed multiple delays, in part due to Cavill suffering an injury during rehearsals last year.
Will the New Highlander Be a Blockbuster Hit?
There are high hopes for the Highlander reboot to revitalize the franchise. It’s being made with a huge budget that’s reportedly around $180 million. Stahelski has also hinted in past years that the movie is being designed as the first of a planned trilogy. Of course, the potential success of the first installment will determine whether those desired sequels are made. Having such strong names attached to the project certainly puts it off to a great start, but it remains to be seen if the reboot will become a blockbuster hit.
“When I came on board, they were trying to reinvent the single Highlander property,” Stahelski told Collider. “We’ve gone since back in and we would like to really expand the world, so we consider the same shortcomings don’t happen again that happened on the original project, meaning you have one great movie and four questionable followups.”
He added, “We want to develop a property that can give us — and again it’s not about marketing, it’s not so much about the financials, it’s about how can we make a more mythological, chapter one, chapter two, whats a great way to tell this story?”
The Highlander reboot does not yet have an official release date, but is expected to arrive in 2027.
- Director
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Chad Stahelski
- Writers
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Ryan J. Condal, Michael Finch, Kerry Williamson
- Producers
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Neal H. Moritz