Henry Cavill to star in Highlander reboot

Superman actor Henry Cavill has confirmed the news that he will headline the upcoming Lionsgate's reboot of Highlander.

The 1986 fantasy adventure grew into a popular franchise, spawning a pop-culture ecosystem that includes TV series, sequels, novels, comics and video games, and it now has a reboot in development.

The reboot will have a screenplay written by Kerry Williamson (What Happened to Monday), while Chad Stahelski (John Wick) is attached to direct.

Sharing the news on his social media pages, Cavill wrote, "Very exciting news today! I've been a fan of Highlander since I was lad. From the movies in all of their 80s, Queen slathered glory to the TV show with an actor who looked remarkably like one of my brothers.

Being not shy with swords, and having a director as talented as Chad Stahelski at the helm, this is an opportunity like no other. Deep diving into franchise storytelling with all the tools at our disposal, is going to make this an adventure I (and hopefully all of you) shall never forget."

Cavill added, "I've lately been dipping into some of my Scottish heritage, and inadvertently getting my baseline research underway!" and attached a picture of his two Scottish novels Those Bloody Kilts: The Highland Soldier in the Great War by Thomas Greenshields and So You're Going to Wear the Kilt by Joseph Charles Thompson, along with a bottle of Edradour Scotch Whiskey and a Sgian-Dubh, a Scottish traditional single-edged knife.

Though Cavill's role in the reboot is yet to be disclosed, he is expected to play one of the two leads in the film. The 1986 original featured Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, a Scottish warrior in the 16th century who realises that he is an immortal after he dies in battle, only to come back to life. Sean Connery portrayed the second lead character, Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, Connor’s mentor and an Egyptian. Juan teaches Connor that he belongs to a small tribe who are born with a special power called the Quickening, which allows them to live forever — unless they are beheaded. Centuries later, in present-day New York, Connor has to face Kurgan (Clancy Brown), another immortal who aims to behead all other immortals to become the most powerful being on Earth.

Though the film opened as a flop, grossing just $5.9 million domestically, it gained popularity on home video, which led to Lambert and Connery starring in a sequel in 1991, and thereby expanding the franchise. A reboot has been in various stages of development for over a decade with directors including Justin Lin and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and stars including Ryan Reynolds and Dave Bautista attached at various points.

Neal H Moritz, Josh Davis and David Leitch are producing the film while Amanda Lewis, Patrick Wachsberger and Gregory Widen are attached as executive producers. 

Meanwhile, Cavill has been busy shooting Season 2 of Netflix's The Witcher and he recently signed up to play Sherlock Holmes again opposite Millie Bobby Brown’s titular performance in Enola Holmes 2.