There can only be one!
With Henry Cavill starring in a remake of the beloved 1986 movie starring Christopher Lambert as the legendary swordsman Connor MacLeod, Lionsgate has great hopes for the Highlander franchise.
Three theatrical sequels, a popular TV series starring Adrian Paul, an animated children's cartoon, and a TV movie that acted as a bridge between Lambert's films and Paul's TV series were all inspired by 1986 movie.
Speaking cautiously, Cavill revealed that he is a huge admirer of the original film and TV series and that he is excited to delve into the franchise's lore during his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote his next role in the spy-comedy thriller Argylle.
Said Cavill, "I’m going to have to answer that very carefully. I was, am, a Highlander fan. They were great fun movies. Obviously, I watched them when I was a lot younger, and since rewatched. But also the TV show. I really enjoyed the lore behind it. That sense of a tragic warrior, with more of a story to tell than just a cool guy with a cool sword doing cool things. And this goes even deeper into that."
Cavill was hesitant to divulge any material before Lionsgate was ready to do so because it is unknown if he will portray Connor, the main character in the TV series Duncan MacLeod, or a completely new clan MacLeod member.
Earlier in 2023, Stahelski teased, "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 went on to state, "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."
"We're trying to do a bit of a prequel setup to The Gathering. So, we have room to grow the property. We have ideas for days about how to make the coolest characters and to make that an epic TV show. I just think that's a rich, rich mythology."
Highlander follows a fictional story that asserts that immortals exist, hidden within normal society. They must hunt and kill other immortals by beheading them in a contest known as The Gathering, which will see the last-standing immortal gain ultimate power.
While the origins of the contest is never explicitly explained, the franchise generally takes the stance that immortals have existed since the dawn of time and that the contest between them must only abide by three hard rules:
- combat on Holy Ground is forbidden
- combat must be one on one
- in the end, there can only be one.
Cavill recently left his role as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's The Witcher and was also informed by Warner Bros. Discovery that he would not be returning as Superman after the decision was made to reboot the DC Cinematic Universe.
He could definitely use a victory, and fans of the actor are hoping that Stahleski's action background combined with Cavill's sword abilities gleaned from his time as Geralt will result in a successful production.