Henry Cavill’s HIGHLANDER reboot from JOHN WICK director Chad Stahelski is moving forward

One of the many film projects that John Wick franchising director Chad Stahelski is developing is a reboot of the classic fantasy action film Highlanderswith Henry Cavill set to star. We have a new update to share with you on the project thanks to Deadline, and Lionsgate is moving the project forward by bringing it to the American Film Market.

The report says: “For the first time, Lionsgate will launch sales at AFM for their long-gestating fantasy reboot. We hear this will be a big budget proposal, over $100 million. Stahelski himself has previously talked about it as being similar to John Wick with swords.

John Wick with swords…yeah, that looks awesome! The production team is looking to start shooting the film in 2024. Previously speaking about the film, Staheleski said it will include both familiar characters and “elements” taken from the 1990s TV series. He said:

“We’re trying to tell our story [and it] it involves a lot of the same characters and stuff. But we also brought in elements from all the TV shows. We’re trying to create a sort of prequel to The Gathering.”

The one set up for The Gathering refers to the culmination of the almost eternal battle between the immortals. He went on to explain that they’re setting up the whole thing to expand and grow the story, saying:

“So, we have room to grow the property. We’ve had ideas for days about how to make more interesting characters and make it an epic TV show. I just think it’s a rich, rich mythology.”

The original 1986 film Highlander starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery AND Clancy Brown as immortal beings, hunting each other and gathering more power. The film’s classic tagline was “There can only be one.”

Stahelski had previously spoken about the film and said that the reboot would be developed as a trilogy. He explained that they are taking the best elements of the franchise’s story and implementing them into a single story that will be spread across a trilogy of films:

“I think the TV series hit on a lot of great things that weren’t in the movie, between the viewers and all different kinds of immortals. How do we put it into a movie mode before we drip it into the TV world? Well, let’s restructure it in parts, let’s look at it like it’s a TV show, let’s look at it like it’s a high-concept trilogy. How do we tell the story of The Gathering, The Quickenings, The Immortals and how do we really build this world even more than the original blueprint? That’s what we’re restructuring right now. We’re taking all the good things from the script that we had before I got involved with the project; redesigning the script to really give us some good chapters one, two and three; and expanding the world.”

He also spoke about his vision for the film, saying:

“The vision that we’re trying to convey and what we’re trying to develop, I consider it very close to Star Wars. The first one is a very satisfying ending but it leaves the door open and that’s how I see it.” . I’d really like to expand it to three. I see The Gathering taking place in threes. It’s complicated, don’t get me wrong, that’s why we’re still developing it. We want to be able to tell three complete stories that are all I think the Star Wars trilogy, at least up until The Empire Strikes Back, is a good example of how we want to work it out.”

Cavill spoke about this previously Highlandersstating, “Not being shy with swords and having a director as talented as Chad Stahelski at the helm, this is an opportunity like no other. Diving deeply into the narrative of the franchise with all the tools at our disposal, will make this an adventure that I I (and I hope all of you) will never forget.”

I’m excited to see how this movie turns out with this creative team!