Anyone who knows and loves the original “Highlander” knows: “There can only be one!” At least in relation to the planned remake of the classic, in which Henry Cavill (40) will slip into the role of the immortal Connor MacLeod instead of Christopher Lambert (66), that doesn’t seem to apply. “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski (54), who wants to capture the new edition of “Highlander” on screen, revealed that he was going to work with a franchise idea. He said that as a guest on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.
His approach is therefore to mix elements and characters from the original film and the TV series of the same name and create something new that can be seen as “a kind of prequel”.
As a reminder: “Highlander” from 1986 is about a small group of immortals, some of whom have lived on the world for several centuries and duel with each other. Only by decapitation can they be permanently killed, and the last survivor falls into the hands of a force strong enough to rule the entire world. In short: there should be a righteous (like MacLeod) immortal left at the end and not his archenemy, the barbaric Kurgan (played by Clancy Brown, 64 in the original).
In the original, there was actually only one left at the end – Stahelski wants to raise that differently now: “If you have the slogan ‘There can only be one’, then you can’t just kill everyone the first time.” Consequently, his plan is to stretch the story over several films and give the individual characters more depth.
The possibilities for this are simply endless due to the fantasy premise. After all, he could “take any era, any nationality, any culture, any type of person and turn them into an immortal”.
It is not yet clear when the first part of the “Highlander” remake, which is designed as a film series, can be expected. In fact, Stahelski has been working on the project since 2016. According to the director, however, it is clear that Cavill has now found the perfect “Highlander”.
Cavill has the physical ability to embody the immortal Connor MacLeod. But what is even more important is that he can also credibly show “the empathy of a character who has lived for 500 years”. The filmmaker said that to “The Hollywood Reporter” in 2021.
As icing on the cake, Cavill once again turned out to be a big fan of the original – just like with the “The Witcher” series, which he finally turned his back on after three seasons and reportedly due to creative differences with the makers.
