Longtime fans of the Highlander franchise are well within their rights to remain skeptical on a reboot ever coming to fruition, given what they’ve been through since a reinvention of the beloved fantasy actioner was first announced to be in the works back in 2008.
Since then, we’ve seen Iron Man writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, Fast & Furious duo Justin Lin and Neal H. Mortitz, Twilight scribe Melissa Rosenberg, 28 Weeks Later helmer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, A-list star Ryan Reynolds, Huntsman: Winter’s War director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, and former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista board Highlander at one stage or another before dropping out.
The latest pairing to tackle the property are John Wick architect Chad Stahelski and The Witcher‘s Henry Cavill, although movement has been slow since the news broke last year. In an interview with Collider, Stahelski hinted that it’s getting close to the starting line.
“We’re in the process of tweaking right now. 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.”
Needless to say, the online subset of Highlander hardcores weren’t quite so enthusiastic, which is fair enough.
Having suffered through so many false starts, it’s understandable that fans will wait until there’s tangible proof before getting their hopes up, so let’s hope Stahelski and Cavill will be the ones to bring Highlander to life.