Henry Cavill may star in Highlander remake from John Wick director

From one immortal demigod to the next, former Superman Henry Cavill is in talks to star in a remake of Highlander, according to a report from Deadline. The film is set to be directed by Chad Stahelski, the director of all three John Wick films.

For those unfamiliar, Highlander is a 1986 movie about a race of immortal warriors who are engaged in a centurieslong war to be the last one standing. These warriors cannot be killed unless they are beheaded, and when their number drops low enough, there is an event called the Gathering where they will fight for The Prize — the ultimate immortal power. That’s where the movie gets its iconic tagline: “There can be only one.”

Highlander stars Christopher Lambert as one of these immortals who is born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century, then taught the way of the immortals by Sean Connery, who is, against all odds, playing a Spaniard. Centuries later, in 1985, Lambert’s Highlander is living in New York when the time of the Gathering approaches. He must defeat his immortal rival, an evil and horrific warrior known as the Kurgan, who is played by Clancy Brown … whom you may know as Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants.

While the movie is packed with lore and world-building, including many 16th-century flashbacks, it’s mostly about demigods fighting each other with dope weapons — and a kick-ass Queen song. In other words, it’s hard to imagine a better pairing for the movie than Cavill and Stahelski.

Of course, this wouldn’t be Cavill’s first experience as a mythic figure with a big sword. The Enola Holmes and Justice League star also plays the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s ongoing series The Witcher, and he played the villain in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, a franchise in which Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is basically an immortal demigod.

As for Stahelski, he’s attached to numerous other films at the moment. Earlier this year, it was announced that the director would be adapting Sony’s samurai game Ghost of Tsushima for the big screen. He’s also working on John Wick 4, which is set to come out in 2024.