Henry Cavill's Highlander remake is "closer than ever", says director Chad Stahelski

Henry Cavill in The Witcher — (Image credit: Netflix)

Highlander director Chad Stahelski has assured that the reboot, which is set to star The Witcher's Henry Cavill, is still very much in development. In fact, he says it's almost ready to get the ball rolling officially... or the sword swinging, should we say?

"We're in the process of tweaking right now," he told Collider while promoting his new Netflix movie Day Shift. "I think we know what we want. More importantly than anything, we know what we want to make. It's in the creatives. We know what we're trying to make. It's just a matter of getting it to the point where we feel, "Okay, this is it. Let's go." But we're closer than we've ever been, so that's good.

Talking about what we should expect from the updated take on Gregory Widen's story, Stahelski added: "It's not just about muscles and brooding. I think [Henry has] got an incredible range and I think he'd bring something very special. His enthusiasm has been amazing in it."

Released in 1986, the original Highlander movie centers on an immortal Scottish swordsman named Connor MacLeod. Born in the early 1500s, he is tasked with fighting other ageless individuals in the present day in order to stop the evil Kurgan from winning the Prize, AKA the collected power of all eternals who ever lived. Christopher Lambert starred as the titular character, while Celia Imrie, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart, and Sean Connery appear in supporting roles.

Over the years, it has spawned four live-action sequels, one animated follow-up, three television series and a web series – and several books, comics and video games, too. Last we heard, What Happened to Monday scribe Kerry Williamson was writing the latest draft of the new film's script, with Josh Davis and Neal H. Moritz on board as producers. Amanda Lewis and Patrick Wachsberger will executive produce, alongside Widen.

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.