MOVIE NEWS – Director Chad Stahelski has given a welcome update on the reboot of The Highlander, starring Henry Cavill and still in development.

Director Chad Stahelski has given us an update on the highly anticipated Highlander reboot. The fantasy franchise, which originally began with Russell Mulcahy’s 1986 feature film of the same name, follows Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman who must battle his last eternal foes. The first film was followed by spin-offs that include original novels, anime films, live-action TV movies, flash animated series and comic books.

In 2016, it was confirmed that Stahelski would direct a reboot of The Highlander, with Henry Cavill joining the cast in 2021.

Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Stahelski revealed that he and his creative team pulled together elements from previous TV series to create the reboot. Their goal is to create an even more expansive Highlander franchise. He even hinted that the reboot could potentially function as a prequel film. You can read his full commentary below:

“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. 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.”

What else do we know about the Highlander reboot?

Rumours of a fresh remake of the original Highlander date back to 2008. Since then, there have been reports of previous failed iterations involving directors such as Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Star Trek Beyond), Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later, Intruders) and a few others.

Stahelski is just the latest potential director, and his new update indicates that he is still fully committed to the future of The Highlander, which bodes well for its development.

While there has been no concrete news on what direction Stahelski’s remake will take, there have been speculations that it will be set as a modern tragedy. It aims for a more realistic portrayal, as opposed to the more imaginative nature of the original films and TV series. As for a release date, nothing has been confirmed yet. Especially since, amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, filming does not seem to be starting anytime soon.

Stahelski has previously stated that the reason the Highlander remake took so long was because it was so important to him that everything was right. He doesn’t want to degrade the overall quality of the story. The franchise has languished slightly in recent years due to unsatisfying and unimaginative sequels. But there is hope that Stahelski and Cavill’s reboot, when it arrives, will be able to breathe new life into it.

Source: YouTube