Henry Cavill's Highlander Reboot: Every Confirmed Detail So Far

There can be only ... well, several. "Highlander" is about to return to movie theaters worldwide, and the storied sci-fi franchise will have some major muscle behind it as former Superman, Henry Cavill, will be playing the lead. Since the Highlander franchise is all about immortality and Scottish sword-swinging, Cavill will have his work cut out for him, but after spending several seasons on "The Witcher," expect him to be fully prepared to become the ultimate survivor. After all, extensive experience defending the innocent from the wicked should certainly help one become the sole Highlander on the planet.

The movie's getting ready to head in front of the camera soon, which means the cast has begun to take shape along with its shooting schedule and a vague idea of when it will hit theaters. Want the lowdown on everything "Highlander"-related? Here's everything we know about Cavill's version of the property at this time.

In June 2025, it was announced that "Highlander" was slated to start filming in late September or early October in Scotland. That means the movie should shoot from the early fall to mid-fall and wrap up around February or March 2026, setting it up for an early fall or Christmastime 2026 release, at the earliest. That, of course is barring any delays, padding in time for effects and editing work, and leaving space for various fall and winter holidays.

It must be a relief for the film to finally hit the production slates, because this "Highlander" reboot has been long-simmering. Multiple writers, directors, and stars (including "Deadpool's" Ryan Reynolds) were attached to the property from 2008, when Summit Entertainment first attained the rights to the franchise, to 2016, when Chad Stahelski climbed aboard to direct. In between then, the rights bounced to Cineverse and finally to MGM Amazon Studios/United Artists. Cavill didn't join until 2021, and it's taken four years for the film to finally head into production.

Stahleski seemed to be feeling the burn for a while. "I've worked on Highlander for years now, for Henry Cavill. Being retroactive is hard," he confessed to Deadline. "If I were to do a remake of 'Highlander' right now, you'd expect a lot of mythology in those first two hours; you couldn't explore stuff without it." Now, he's about to face the challenge of compacting all of that mythology into a sleek two-ish hour film.

As noted above, Henry Cavill will lead the "Highlander" reboot by playing Connor MacLeod. Connor is your average, everyday Scotsman until he finds himself cursed with the gift of immortality back in the 1500s. Joining Cavill so far is Russell Crowe as Ramirez, MacLeod's mentor and fellow Highlander, the part that Sean Connery portrayed in the original film. Marisa Abela has also joined the cast as an as-yet unnamed woman with whom MacLeod fell in love centuries ago and who taught him all of his swordfighting moves. She's a brand-new face to the franchise and will apparently add a dash of romantic tension to the proceedings. Finally, the film has cast Dave Bautista in the role of The Kurgan (originally played by Clancy Brown), MacLeod's sworn enemy, who plans to add Connor's power and head to the many he has taken over the centuries.

Henry Cavill sounds quite enthused about the film. "It's a project that I'm extremely excited about," Cavill told the Hollywood Reporter. "This character is going to be a lot of fun to play, and I'm loving working with Chad Stahelski. He is a very talented man."

While the plot for this version of "Highlander" is being kept under wraps, if the reboot follows the original in any respect, the storyline should go a little something like this: Conner MacLeod has been immortal since the 1500s, which he views as a curse. He's been living under an alias for some time when the film catches up with him working as an antique dealer, and the story cuts back and forth in time explaining his life and how he ended up in his current situation. Connor is a Highlander, and Highlanders are doomed to clash with one another in combat until only one immortal survives. Their lives can be ended in one way — by being decapitated by another Highlander in ritualistic sword fight combat. In the end, Connor is chased down by his longtime rival, The Kurgan, who seeks to become the only living Highlander.

It looks like there will be some changes made to the formula by Chad Stahelski, even if the basic story beats stay the same. "We're bringing it forward from the early 1500s in the highlands to the beyond present-day New York and Hong Kong, and seeing how it goes," Stahelski told Collider. "There's big opportunity for action ... and it's a bit of a love story — but not how you think." One thing that won't change? Those epic songs by Queen that comprised the original's soundtrack will be a part of the reboot in a unique way, per Stahelski.

As noted above, Chad Stahelski will be directing the film from a script written by Michael Finch, best known for his work on "John Wick: Chapter 4" — which Stahelski also directed. Stahelski has been giving regular updates to the press as to what the movie will look like, and has had nothing but high praise for Henry Cavill. "Henry obviously has the physicality, but that doesn't mean a whole lot if you can't also carry the empathy of a character that's lived 500 years, and I needed somebody who could do both," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "The character's arc spans hundreds of years and he becomes many different personalities, all of which extend the timeline of his emotional growth."

All the director needed to do was meet Cavill to realize he was the one, which proved to be an easy challenge. "Henry was immediately riffing on the idea of the burden of immortality and you could see in his eyes that he can transform himself from being a young, vibrant soul to an old, wise soul," Stahelski said. "He had this combination I was fascinated by." He also noted that Cavill has a special something extra, as well. "The other thing you could see was his genuineness — he really loves the property and loves what he believes he can do with it, and when an actor has that level of passion, you're going to get something unique. And finally ... after 10 minutes you're just like: 'He's cool, I want to hang out with this guy,'" he concluded.

This new "Highlander" already has multiple producers working to bring it into existence. Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt will represent MGM Amazon Studios' United Artists, while Neal H. Moritz and Chad Stahelski's 87Eleven Entertainment is also involved. Joshua Davis, of Davis Panzer Productions, will also be involved. As noted above, MGM Amazon Studios' UA will distribute the film and any sequels, as they now own the "Highlander" franchise outright. Lionsgate helped develop the project before it was sold to MGM.

The hope on all fronts is that his version of "Highlander" will spawn a television series, which will likely end up on Prime Video as an exclusive if the film is successful enough. Neither Henry Cavill nor the rest of the film's stars are involved as producers.

While the connections between the original "Highlander" series of films, the TV shows, and this new "Highlander" remain unclear as of press time, there is apparently an effort going to link Henry Cavill's version to the "Highlander" TV universe on some level. "Our story engages a lot of the same characters, but we've also brought in elements of all the TV shows," Chad Stahelski explained on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast. "We're trying to do a bit of a prequel — a setup to The Gathering — so we have room to grow the property."

The "Highlander" TV universe began with "Highlander: The Series," which starred Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod, one of Connor's kin. Duncan, too, is an Immortal, and so is also a part of The Game that so haunts Connor. Over the course of six seasons, Duncan fights crime and deals with his past while trying to peruse his life. A popular syndication staple, it spawned "Highlander: The Raven," which lasted a single-season in syndication; "Highlander: Endgame," a big-screen effort that reunited Paul and Christopher Lambert's Connor; and the TV film "Highlander: the Source." Since the TV franchise and the film franchise are heavily connected, we should probably expect some level of crossover action in Cavill's film

The "Highlander" world is big and sprawling, so it'll take a bit of effort to track down all of the films and shows in the franchise. It might even be difficult to figure out what order to watch the franchise in. Nevertheless, here's what's available as of this writing.

The first "Highlander" film is readily available on Tubi, Pluto TV, Peacock, The Roku Channel, and Fandango at Home. The infamous "Highlander II: The Quickening" is on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Prime Video, all of which feature the director's superior "Renegade Cut." "Highlander III: The Final Dimension," which was forced to change its title in the UK to "Highlander: The Sorcerer," is only on available to stream Pluto.

"Highlander: The Series" is available in its entirety on Tubi, Pluto TV, Peacock, Prime Video and Fandango at Home. "Highlander: The Raven" is only on Pluto and Xumo Play, and "Highlander: Endgame" is on Pluto as well. "Highlander: The Source" is on Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home. And, if you want to wrap up all of this head-chopping goodness with a semi-wholesome animated series, the set-in-the-far-flung-future "Highlander: The Animated Series" is on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Plex. As you can see, despite what the franchise's slogan says, there definitely can't be only one.