It’s time for “Highlander” to make its way back to cinemas around the world, and this time, it comes with a significant power boost as former Superman, Henry Cavill, takes the lead role. The franchise, known for its themes of immortality and Scottish sword battles, will challenge Cavill, but with several seasons of “The Witcher” under his belt, he should be ready to embrace the role of the ultimate warrior. His experience in protecting the good from the evil may come in handy as he steps into the shoes of the legendary lone Highlander.

The film is gearing up for production soon, meaning the cast is coming together, and plans are underway for filming along with a tentative release timeframe. Interested in all things “Highlander”? Here’s what we currently know about Cavill’s upcoming adaptation of the series.

As of June 2025, filming for “Highlander” was set to commence in late September or early October in Scotland. This schedule suggests filming will likely stretch from early to mid-fall, wrapping up around February or March 2026, with a potential release by fall or Christmas of that year. This timeline assumes no major delays and allows for the necessary post-production work, including special effects and editing, while accounting for holiday breaks.

The journey to production for this “Highlander” reboot has been protracted. Various writers, directors, and actors, including “Deadpool’s” Ryan Reynolds, have been linked since 2008, when Summit Entertainment acquired the franchise rights until 2016, when Chad Stahelski took the directorial helm. The rights later shifted from Cineverse to MGM Amazon Studios/United Artists. It wasn’t until 2021 that Cavill became involved, requiring four years to advance to filming.

Director Chad Stahelski acknowledged the challenge of the project’s long development. He admitted to Deadline that “I’ve worked on Highlander for years now, for Henry Cavill. Being retroactive is hard.” He emphasized the difficulty of condensing the rich mythology into a concise two-hour movie, which he’s tasked with achieving.

Henry Cavill steps into the role of Connor MacLeod for the “Highlander” reboot. Connor begins as a typical Scotsman until he discovers his immortality in the 1500s. Joining him in the cast is Russell Crowe as Ramirez, Connor’s mentor and fellow Highlander, revisiting the part originally played by Sean Connery. Additionally, Marisa Abela joins as a mysterious woman, a new character who taught Connor swordfighting and intertwines romance into the storyline. Dave Bautista will play The Kurgan, Connor’s longstanding adversary determined to claim Connor’s power and add his head to his many trophies, a role first depicted by Clancy Brown.

Henry Cavill sounds quite enthused about the film. “It’s a project that I’m extremely excited about,” Cavill told the Hollywood Reporter. “This character is going to be a lot of fun to play, and I’m loving working with Chad Stahelski. He is a very talented man.”

While the plot for this version of “Highlander” is being kept under wraps, if the reboot follows the original in any respect, the storyline should go a little something like this: Conner MacLeod has been immortal since the 1500s, which he views as a curse. He’s been living under an alias for some time when the film catches up with him working as an antique dealer, and the story cuts back and forth in time explaining his life and how he ended up in his current situation. Connor is a Highlander, and Highlanders are doomed to clash with one another in combat until only one immortal survives. Their lives can be ended in one way — by being decapitated by another Highlander in ritualistic sword fight combat. In the end, Connor is chased down by his longtime rival, The Kurgan, who seeks to become the only living Highlander.

It looks like there will be some changes made to the formula by Chad Stahelski, even if the basic story beats stay the same. “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,” Stahelski told Collider. “There’s big opportunity for action … and it’s a bit of a love story — but not how you think.” One thing that won’t change? Those epic songs by Queen that comprised the original’s soundtrack will be a part of the reboot in a unique way, per Stahelski.

As noted above, Chad Stahelski will be directing the film from a script written by Michael Finch, best known for his work on “John Wick: Chapter 4” — which Stahelski also directed. Stahelski has been giving regular updates to the press as to what the movie will look like, and has had nothing but high praise for Henry Cavill. “Henry obviously has the physicality, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot if you can’t also carry the empathy of a character that’s lived 500 years, and I needed somebody who could do both,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “The character’s arc spans hundreds of years and he becomes many different personalities, all of which extend the timeline of his emotional growth.”

All the director needed to do was meet Cavill to realize he was the one, which proved to be an easy challenge. “Henry was immediately riffing on the idea of the burden of immortality and you could see in his eyes that he can transform himself from being a young, vibrant soul to an old, wise soul,” Stahelski said. “He had this combination I was fascinated by.” He also noted that Cavill has a special something extra, as well. “The other thing you could see was his genuineness — he really loves the property and loves what he believes he can do with it, and when an actor has that level of passion, you’re going to get something unique. And finally … after 10 minutes you’re just like: ‘He’s cool, I want to hang out with this guy,'” he concluded.

This new “Highlander” already has multiple producers working to bring it into existence. Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt will represent MGM Amazon Studios’ United Artists, while Neal H. Moritz and Chad Stahelski’s 87Eleven Entertainment is also involved. Joshua Davis, of Davis Panzer Productions, will also be involved. As noted above, MGM Amazon Studios’ UA will distribute the film and any sequels, as they now own the “Highlander” franchise outright. Lionsgate helped develop the project before it was sold to MGM.

The hope on all fronts is that his version of “Highlander” will spawn a television series, which will likely end up on Prime Video as an exclusive if the film is successful enough. Neither Henry Cavill nor the rest of the film’s stars are involved as producers.

While the connections between the original “Highlander” series of films, the TV shows, and this new “Highlander” remain unclear as of press time, there is apparently an effort going to link Henry Cavill’s version to the “Highlander” TV universe on some level. “Our story engages a lot of the same characters, but we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows,” Chad Stahelski explained on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast. “We’re trying to do a bit of a prequel — a setup to The Gathering — so we have room to grow the property.”

The “Highlander” TV universe began with “Highlander: The Series,” which starred Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod, one of Connor’s kin. Duncan, too, is an Immortal, and so is also a part of The Game that so haunts Connor. Over the course of six seasons, Duncan fights crime and deals with his past while trying to peruse his life. A popular syndication staple, it spawned “Highlander: The Raven,” which lasted a single-season in syndication; “Highlander: Endgame,” a big-screen effort that reunited Paul and Christopher Lambert’s Connor; and the TV film “Highlander: the Source.” Since the TV franchise and the film franchise are heavily connected, we should probably expect some level of crossover action in Cavill’s film

The “Highlander” world is big and sprawling, so it’ll take a bit of effort to track down all of the films and shows in the franchise. It might even be difficult to figure out what order to watch the franchise in. Nevertheless, here’s what’s available as of this writing.

The first “Highlander” film is readily available on Tubi, Pluto TV, Peacock, The Roku Channel, and Fandango at Home. The infamous “Highlander II: The Quickening” is on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Prime Video, all of which feature the director’s superior “Renegade Cut.” “Highlander III: The Final Dimension,” which was forced to change its title in the UK to “Highlander: The Sorcerer,” is only on available to stream Pluto.

“Highlander: The Series” is available in its entirety on Tubi, Pluto TV, Peacock, Prime Video and Fandango at Home. “Highlander: The Raven” is only on Pluto and Xumo Play, and “Highlander: Endgame” is on Pluto as well. “Highlander: The Source” is on Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home. And, if you want to wrap up all of this head-chopping goodness with a semi-wholesome animated series, the set-in-the-far-flung-future “Highlander: The Animated Series” is on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Plex. As you can see, despite what the franchise’s slogan says, there definitely can’t be only one.