Chad Stahelski gives details on Highlander remake’s setting/timeline and MacLeod’s arc

Last Updated on November 25, 2024

There can be only one! OK, it seemed for a while that that one – that is, Chad Stahelski’s Highlander remake – would never make it to the screen. And while we still have a ways to go, we do know that filming is set for January. Not only that, but Stahelski has dropped new details that give us an idea of what we can anticipate as far as locations, action and how he’ll “bend” the story.

Speaking with The Direct, Chad Stahelski said that his Highlander will completely shift the timeline we might expect, saying, “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. There’s big opportunity for action. There’s a chance to play a character that not a lot of people get to play. And it’s a bit of a love story, but not how you think. On John Wick, I learned a lot on how to bend the storytelling a little… another kind of myth.”

No doubt Stahelski has some challenges coming his way. Yet, while the Highlander franchise does have its legion of fans, it’s not like it couldn’t use an update or creative reimagining. At this point, with the series on the dormant side and the worst and weirdest behind us, we can look forward to the story and characters developing under capable hands.

Joining Chad Stahelski on his Highlander mission will be Henry Cavill, who is on his own rebound along with the series. On pitching the character to his star, Stahelski said, “My selling point was, to [Henry Cavill], look, you’ve got a guy that’s been alive for over 500 years. He’s the last person in the world that wanted to be in this situation. So you get to cover quite a broad spread of a character arc there. And you get to experience someone that’s trained over 500 years and sort of played [with many types of] martial arts…”

The Highlander reboot has a long history of stalls and company hand-offs, but now that Chad Stahelski and Henry Cavill are moving forward at a seemingly steady pace, we can finally have complete confidence in its completion and release.

What are your hopes for the new Highlander movie?