@Triksy said:

FandomWire: John Wick Director Confirms Highlander Movie With Henry Cavill Happening

MovieWeb: Highlander Reboot with Henry Cavill 'Is Still Happening,' Director Assures

FilmStories: Director Chad Stahelski claims the Highlander reboot is still alive

Chad Stahelski has a lot of projects on his slate.

1. Shibumi
   
2. The Man From Nowhere
   
3. Ghosts of Tsushima
   
4. Classified
   

He better give Highlander priority.

Colider

'Highlander' Remake with Henry Cavill Is "Closer Than We've Ever Been," Says Chad Stahelski

As Stahleski put it: 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.

Stahleski confirmed that he has been discussing the project with Cavill who he described as being "one of my big choices." He went on to explain, "It's not just about muscles and brooding. I think he's got an incredible range and I think he'd bring something very special. And his enthusiasm has been amazing in it."

https://collider.com/highlander-remake-henry-cavill-chad-stahleski-comments-new-movie/

@AnnaB said:

Chad Stahelski has a lot of projects on his slate.

1. Shibumi
   
2. The Man From Nowhere
   
3. Ghosts of Tsushima
   
4. Classified
   

He better give Highlander priority.

Chad Stahelski adds a new project to his development slate.

01-18-2023 Rainbow Six

05-07-2022 Project Nemesis

08-05-2021 Shibumi

05-21-2021 Highlander

03-25-2021 Ghosts of Tsushima

03-10-2021 Classified

08-06-2020 The Man From Nowhere

@Sue-Yin said:

Chad Stahelski adds a new project to his development slate.

01-18-2023 Rainbow Six

05-07-2022 Project Nemesis

08-05-2021 Shibumi

05-21-2021 Highlander

03-25-2021 Ghosts of Tsushima

03-10-2021 Classified

08-06-2020 The Man From Nowhere

So Ghost Of Tsushima was announced before Highlander. Well

Movieweb: “Ghost of Tsushima would be my favorite to do next. Without going into crazy detail, it's something I'm super-interested in. We have a really great script. We have a really good creative team behind it. It's just about getting all the business end of things locked in. It's kind of in that little bit of flux where everybody is trying to tighten up the deal to get everything going, and to make sure we do the best with it. It's a simple thing: getting a great script, and starting to put together a cast. It just takes a lot of moving parts”.
“Obviously, Ghost is a special project. Everybody realizes it. Everybody wants to do it, with the introduction of new technologies and a new way to do the epic samurai vibe [...] There's just a lot of things to put together before we really pull the trigger on making it, mostly from my side creatively. And we're in that process right now, trying to pull everything together so we knock it out of the park”.

Screen: The Ghost of Tsushima video game took the world by storm, and it isn't often when a completely original game that isn't part of an existing franchise becomes as successful as the 2020 video game was. Because of the samurai game's huge success, Sony was quick to greenlight a movie adaptation. […] Stahelski wants the movie to be in Japanese. On top of that, where most of his upcoming projects are perfect for Stahelski given his skillset, the video game movie would see him doing something new, stealth, which is almost the opposite of the filmmaker's typically bombastic action sequences. Tsushima is one of the most visually stunning PS4 games, so it'll undoubtedly be a cinematic masterpiece too.

THR

‘John Wick’ Filmmaker Chad Stahelski Talks Sequels, Oscar Stunt Snubs and Why Guns Still Show Up on Sets

And you seem go back and forth on whether or not you want to do a fifth John Wick.
In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give John Wick a rest. I’m sure the studio has a plan. If everyone loves it and it goes kooky, then we’ll take a quiet minute. Wicks always, for some weird reason, always get the latest release date in Japan. It’s always like, three months later. If it’s the same this time, we’ll do a Japanese tour and release the movie in September. Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, “What do you think?” We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie.

You have a long list of projects in development or preproduction — Highlander, Ghost of Tsushima and Rainbow Six, among many others. Is this franchise keeping you from doing other stuff?
Hollywood loves a good announcement, don’t they? There have been a few that have come out, and I’ve been surprised to see I’m attached to direct them. (Laughs.) Really, though, there’s a lot I’m interested in. But the Wicks are so intense, and I like being part of all of it. I’ve tried to be the multitasker director — prepping one thing while working on another — but I can’t. That’s why they start stacking up.

So much of your job is about safety, and you started your career in 1994 doubling for Brandon Lee after he died in an on-set accident with a gun while filming The Crow. How did you process the Rust shooting?
What happened on Rust … I wasn’t there, but the accidents that I’ve been around, seen or been part of have always been human error. It’s never mechanical. So, let’s just talk about firearms. Back in the day, when it all started, they came up with blanks. A blank is a bullet without the projectile, but they couldn’t put you and me in the same shot, 5 feet apart, and one of us pull the trigger. The concussive force coming out at the end of the barrel would be enough to shatter your skull. Accidents like that did happen and people died because of it. But in the past 10 years, they’ve come out with electronic guns, plug guns where it is impossible for anything to come out of the barrel and total CG. That’s the way we do it. That technology is out there for everybody.

Why isn’t everybody using it?
My feeling is that there’s no reason to have a live firearm on set. We can create cities and spaceships and Godzilla and all these things. We have the technology to do the same with firearms. But, for the last 100 years, Hollywood’s been using real firearms. And for prop houses, armorers or supply houses to switch over, it would make their entire stock of real firearms useless. It comes down to the fact that it would cost certain people a great deal of money to switch over. No one wants to say that, but that’s the real reason. You don’t need firearms. The alternative is just going to cost you more money.

What’s your take on the stunt community never getting its own Oscar category?
There’s one for every other department but ours? That’s a no-brainer to me. Truly, there are wives’ tales and rumors and myths about why there’s no category, that the Academy was mad at somebody about something. For all I know, that’s all bullsh*t. We want to be recognized because we’re one of the 11 main departments. We’re in every f*cking trailer. Most movies are sold on what we do.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/john-wick-filmmaker-chad-stahelski-sequels-oscar-stunt-snubs-firearms-1235343132/

DEADLINE: I remember the original Highlander movie, which you’ve tried to crack as a remake. Great mythology presented in that film, which allowed for historical flashbacks and an eventual there-can-be-only-one outcome. Subsequent films felt repetitive, though the series with Adrian Paul was quite good…
STAHELSKI: I’ve worked on Highlander for years now, for Henry Cavill. Being retroactive is hard. What’s different between Wick and that? With Wick, you weren’t serving seven seasons of TV plus two spinoffs plus five films. If I were to do a remake of Highlander right now, you’d expect a lot of mythology in those first two hours; you couldn’t explore stuff without it. Now, Highlander as a TV show now would be amazing. You’d have time to build it out, see all those flashbacks and the potential of it. It’s trickier when you’re trying to do something with that big of a mythology. But I agree, that would be one to take a really big stab at. Here, we just had the opportunity to really learn as we went on with Wick.

I like the idea of a TV show. More HC!

But I’ve got an idea… ATV+ is looking for ways to get people to sub and release films in theaters. So... it should colab with Lionsgate. ATV+ will stream a ten ep limited series to explore the mythology from start to almost end. Then… it will finish with a film trilogy. Lionsgate will release them in theaters.

Comicbook.com

Highlander Director Teases Reboot Honors Movies and TV Series

Director Chad Stahelski has been trying to get a new take on Highlander up and running for years, and while the ongoing writers' and actors' strikes are preventing any substantial development on the project, he did recently offer a promising update on the project. In addition to the filmmaker teasing that his take on the material would bring together elements from all corners of the mythology, he hopes that the movie could also plant the seeds for a sprawling franchise that could include a TV series, much like what happened with the original films. Stahelski also confirmed that Henry Cavill is still attached to star in the project, whenever it ultimately moves forward.

"I think we have some very good elements now. The trick is, when you have the tagline, 'There can be only one,' you can't just kill everybody the first time," Stahleski shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "I'll say it for you first, our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that, but we've also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we're trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property."

He continued, "Highlander, I can tell you right now, if we've got our sh-t together and pull off a feature, we've got ideas for days about how to make the coolest characters and make that an epic TV show. I just think that's a rich, rich, rich mythology. You can pick any period in time, any nationality, any culture, any type of person and make them an immortal that have to duel and deal with the burden of immortality? That's f-cking cool to me."

Earlier this year, Stahelski shared similar remarks about the nature of the sprawling franchise, which includes multiple movies, TV series, animated projects, and books that expanded the mythology of the movie.

"I've worked on Highlander for years now, for Henry Cavill. Being retroactive is hard," Stahelski shared with Deadline this past March. "What's different between [John Wick] and that? With Wick, you weren't serving seven seasons of TV plus two spinoffs plus five films. If I were to do a remake of Highlander right now, you'd expect a lot of mythology in those first two hours; you couldn't explore stuff without it. Now, Highlander as a TV show now would be amazing. You'd have time to build it out, see all those flashbacks and the potential of it. It's trickier when you're trying to do something with that big of a mythology. But I agree, that would be one to take a really big stab at. Here, we just had the opportunity to really learn as we went on with Wick."

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/highlander-reboot-update-status-chad-stahelski-tv-show-henry-cavill/

@ComicBookGuy said:

Comicbook.com

Highlander Director Teases Reboot Honors Movies and TV Series

Highlander, I can tell you right now, if we've got our sh-t together and pull off a feature, we've got ideas for days about how to make the coolest characters and make that an epic TV sho

So… they’re going to do a variant of what I said. Perfect!

@ComicBookGuy said:

Comicbook.com

Highlander Director Teases Reboot Honors Movies and TV Series

Highlander, I can tell you right now, if we've got our sh-t together and pull off a feature, we've got ideas for days about how to make the coolest characters and make that an epic TV sho

They should hurry up. I want to see this while I’m still young.

@ComicBookGuy said:

Comicbook.com

Highlander Director Teases Reboot Honors Movies and TV Series

In addition to the filmmaker teasing that his take on the material would bring together elements from all corners of the mythology, he hopes that the movie could also plant the seeds for a sprawling franchise that could include a TV series,

HC better be in the film and the series.

@HCFan said:

They should hurry up. I want to see this while I’m still young.

Yeah, I want to see HC hold the sword wrong. I mean, see him swing a sword.

Deadline

Lionsgate Moving Forward With Henry Cavill & Chad Stahelski ‘Highlander’ Reboot As Action-Fantasy Pic Heads To AFM To Enliven A Strike-Hit Market

For the first time, Lionsgate will be launching sales at the AFM on their long-gestating fantasy reboot which has Henry Cavill aboard to star as the eponymous Scottish swordsman and John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski set to direct.

We hear this will be a big-budget proposition, north of $100M. Stahelski himself has previously talked about it as akin to John Wick with swords. The team is eyeing a 2024 start.

This will be welcome news for AFM buyers whose pool of pre-sale projects has been diminished by the ongoing strike.

The new movie will be based on the 1986 original, […]

Producing the reboot are Joshua Davis, Fast And The Furious producer Neal H. Moritz, Stahelski (thru his 87Eleven Entertainment production company) and Louise Rosner.

The current draft of the screenplay is by Mike Finch. The late Peter S. Davis, producer of the original Highlander, initiated development of the new film.

Stahelski […] previously talked about the new Highlander as the first in a trilogy but we’ve not had word whether that’s still the case.

Cavill and Stahelski were attached and reported before the strike.

The arrival of the Highlander reboot is a shot in the arm for the AFM, whose business has been hampered by the SAG-AFTRA strike. This and Kevin Costner’s Horizon movies, which we told you this week would also be on sale, are the two biggest-budget prospects revealed for the market so far. A number of packages haven’t come together or aren’t being officially announced due to strike restrictions or anxiety over optics. Frankly, given the limitations posed by the strike, I’ve been surprised at the number of new or reworked projects that are on sale (many are shooting in Europe). There are still a handful of pre-sales packages for buyers to get their teeth into, even if more action may be done this market on completed and near-completed movies.

https://deadline.com/2023/10/henry-cavill-highlander-chad-stahelski-reboot-lionsgate-movie-afm-1235585000/

THR

AFM Hot List: Keira Knightley, Henry Cavill, Halle Berry, Dev Patel and David Harbour Films Hit the Market

Restarted negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that could mean an end to the actors strike have raised hopes for this year’s American Film Market, which runs Oct. 31-Nov, 5 in Santa Monica. What everyone is hoping for is, in the words of one leading indie producer, that “we can all get back to business.”

Even without a new SAG-AFTRA deal, there is a healthy batch of new titles on offer — a mix of international features and U.S. indie films that have secured interim agreements from the union to begin production. “In the last few days we’ve seen a waterfall of lineups,” says Nadiia Zaionchkovska, CCO of newly-founded Ukraine distributor Green Light Films, which will be making its market debut at this year’s AFM. “Lots of theatrical films, lots either in post or in pre-production, ready to shoot in the first quarter of 2024. It’s looking very positive.”

Highlander

DIRECTOR Chad Stahelski

STARS Henry Cavill

BUZZ It’s Highlander! Lionsgate’s hotly-anticipated reboot of the 1980s swords-and-immortals franchise has been in development for years but with John Wick helmer Stahelski and Superman Henry Cavill officially attached, the project will finally go on sale at AFM this year. By far the biggest movie at the 2023 market — the only $100 million-plus project out there — this is guaranteed to trigger bidding wars in virtually every territory.

SALES Lionsgate

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/afm-2023-hot-list-halle-berry-bella-ramsey-jack-quaid-1235625726/

Screen Rant

How Henry Cavill's Highlander Will Honor Original Franchise Passionately Explained By Reboot Director

After seven years of lingering in development, the Highlander reboot is finally moving forward and director Chad Stahelski shares new insight for his vision of the project. The 1986 fantasy action movie introduced audiences the secret world of immortals going as far back as the 16th century, who wage a war against one another across the centuries for a mysterious ultimate Prize. Stahelski, well-known for his extensive stuntwork and directing the John Wick franchise, signed on to helm a reboot of the franchise in 2016, with Cavill joining the cast in 2021.

While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant for John Wick: Chapter 4's Oscars campaign, Stahelski was asked about his vision for the Highlander reboot. The director offered a passionate explanation of why he signed on to the franchise in the first place, expressing his desire for "more Highlander" for the past 20 years and believing that its mythology has endless opportunities to explore on screen. See what Stahelski shared below:

If you're a fan at all, you know about the TV shows and the mythology there, the things that worked in the feature aspect of the franchise, what didn't. I would like to think that it has — I guess, I hope I'm bringing to it the realization of the potential that we all see in that franchise. Now, we probably don't love all the other ancillary stuff that's come out of it, but we love the potential of it. There isn't an episode of the TV show that I didn't watch hoping for more or wanting more. That's not to say they did a good or bad job, just that I want more. For whatever reason, 20 years later, I want more Highlander. I think that franchise with the mythology of people going through the centuries, and the burden of immortality as much as the wish fulfillment of immortality, you know, how you relate to people you love and don't love, both mortal and immortal, and what you can do with that is some of the most romantic, interesting, existential stuff I've ever seen. I think it's a playground for everything that I love about the John Wick series, and everything that I can't do in the John Wick series, because I'm dealing with mortals, so it gives me another realm to play in. So, I just look at it as a natural evolution of worldbuilding and potential behind that is more than any other property that I'm attached to. And I know that, so hopefully, that's where I'll put my energies and whatever talent I have.

The Highlander Reboot Is Stahelski's Most Important Project Yet

Despite this prior experience, Stahelski tackling Highlander will offer better proof of his worth as more than an action director. Having only helmed the four John Wick movies up to this point, the filmmaker has shown his ability in effective worldbuilding and thrilling action set pieces, albeit the later sequels saw some criticisms for their focus on bigger action in comparison to its character development. John Wick: Chapter 4, on the other hand, offered a better look at his ability to balance multiple story arcs while still delivering on the action audiences came to expect from the Reeves-led franchise, exploring themes of guilt and existentialism that the Highlander franchise frequently reflected on.

The Highlander reboot isn't the only exciting project on Stahelski's docket after potentially closing out the mainline John Wick franchise. The director has been attached to a Ghost of Tsushima movie adaptation since early 2021, partnering with the fairly newly formed PlayStation Productions to bring the Sucker Punch game to life. With the Cavill-led Highlander expected to begin filming in 2024, barring any further delays from the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, it will be interesting to see what lessons Stahelski takes from the fantasy movie into his samurai-centric project.

https://screenrant.com/highlander-reboot-movie-henry-cavill-original-franchise-honor-director-explained/

Gamesradar

It sounds like the Henry Cavill Highlander reboot from John Wick director will be coming in 2026

In a recent earnings call, Lionsgate's CEO Jon Feltheimer named Highlander as one of the studio's "fiscal '26 tentpoles" – which is the most promising update yet on the long-gestating reboot.

Cavill was first linked to the reboot way back in 2021, but it all went a bit quiet on the Highlander front until fairly recently. Judging by Stahelski's past comments, though, we can expect a new(ish) franchise on the horizon. "We're trying to do a bit of a prequel setup to The Gathering," Stahleski explained, referencing the final battle between the immortals of the series. "So, we have room to grow the property. We have ideas for days about how to make the coolest characters and to make that an epic TV show. I just think that's a rich, rich mythology."

https://www.gamesradar.com/highlander-reboot-release-date-2026-henry-cavill/