Henry Cavill just gave fans their first real peek at Highlander, and it is exactly the kind of “modern myth” tease you want from a long-gestating reboot. In two newly shared images, Cavill appears as Connor MacLeod, sword in hand, looking like a man who has seen a few centuries’ worth of trouble and is still not done fighting.
The photos are doing a lot of quiet storytelling. One has Cavill striding through a lantern-lit space that feels like a temple, coat flaring behind him like he just stepped out of a futuristic noir. The other is colder and heavier, with Cavill looking battered as he holds a sheathed katana in a cathedral-like setting. Even without plot details, you can feel the direction: this is not just kilts and foggy hills. It’s a world tour, and it looks built for big action.
Why These Images Matter
First looks usually exist to confirm the obvious: yep, the lead is in costume. This one does more than that. It suggests the reboot is leaning into contrast, sacred spaces and violence, old-world immortality colliding with present-day cities, and a protagonist who reads less like a swaggering hero and more like someone carrying a burden he never asked for.
That lines up with what director Chad Stahelski has been saying for a while. His take pushes the story across eras and into major modern locations, and he has hinted the tone has room for mythic romance, just not in the way people might expect. If you know Stahelski primarily through John Wick, that’s the intriguing part: he is not pitching Highlander as a straight action factory. He is pitching it as a character arc with centuries of weight behind it.
A Quick Highlander Refresher
The core appeal of Highlander is simple and durable. Immortals walk among us, and they can only be killed by beheading. They are pulled into an escalating conflict that ends with a final confrontation where “there can only be one,” and the winner claims “The Prize.” The 1986 film bounced between centuries, mixing swordfights, doomed love, and pulpy mythology with an unmistakable 80s vibe. Later sequels and a TV series expanded the sandbox, sometimes elegantly, sometimes not, but the central hook always worked.
That’s why this reboot has real upside. The premise is clean, the mythology is flexible, and if the action is great, it becomes the kind of franchise people actually want more of.
Chad Stahelski Is a Good Match for This
Stahelski’s biggest advantage is that he treats action like storytelling, not decoration. If Highlander is going to work in 2026 and beyond, it needs fights that feel authored, not noisy. It also needs rules that the movie respects, otherwise the immortal-warrior concept becomes just another supernatural brawl.
Stahelski has also been candid about wanting room to grow the property instead of burning through every idea in one film. That matters with Highlander, because the whole brand identity is built on inevitability. Every duel pushes you toward an endgame, so pacing the myth is the trick.
The Cast Is Stacked
This reboot is not being shy about going big. Alongside Cavill, the film includes Russell Crowe, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, and Marisa Abela, with Jeremy Irons set as a major antagonist tied to a secret order watching the immortals. WWE star Drew McIntyre has also been reported as playing Angus MacLeod, Connor’s brother, which is the kind of casting that could add real physical presence if the role is built around hard-hitting confrontations and grounded emotion.
When Does Highlander Come Out?
There is no official release date yet, but Stahelski has pointed toward a 2027 or 2028 window depending on production timing. The key takeaway is that it’s finally moving, and the first-look drop feels like the start of a real marketing ramp rather than another round of “it’s still happening, promise.”
If the movie sticks the landing, this could be Cavill’s most natural fit in years: a character who can be stoic without being flat, physical without being cartoonish, and mythic without needing a cape to sell it.
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