The long-in-development Highlander remake will have to wait a little longer. Production was believed to be kicking off later this month, but Deadline has heard that Highlander star Henry Cavill has been injured while training for the film, which has forced a delay. The outlet reports that production likely won’t begin again until early 2026.
Cavill will play Connor MacLeod, a Medieval Scottish Highlander who discovers he is an immortal warrior. With help from a swordsman named Ramirez, played by Russell Crowe, MacLeod battles other immortals across time. The cast includes Dave Bautista as The Kurgen, Karen Gillian as MacLeod’s Scottish wife, and Marisa Abela as his modern-day love interest. Djimon Hounsou also recently joined the cast as an immortal warrior from Africa.
Screenwriter Michael Finch is said to be building up a “more complex and deeper world,” with sources saying that we’ll see “more immortals who also happen to be from various parts of the world.” As this project has major franchise aspirations, ensuring the world is populated with enough immortals to keep things interesting makes sense. Once production does pick up, filming will take place in Scotland, England, and Hong Kong.
The project was initially set up at Lionsgate, but jumped ship to Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists earlier this year. The new deal will give United Artists full rights to the franchise, with Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt set to produce alongside Neal H. Moritz, 87Eleven Entertainment, Josh Davis of Davis Panser Productions, and Louise Rosner.
Director Chad Stahelski has also teased the timeline for the movie. “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,” he said. “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.“
The nature of the injury isn’t clear, but we wish Cavill well on his road to recovery.