Henry Cavill Plays a Martial Arts Master Who’s Trained for Over 500 Years in Upcoming Highlander Movie

John Wick director Chad Stahelski has revealed a little more about the hotly anticipated Highlander movie, which is set to feature The Witcher actor Henry Cavill in the starring role.

Speaking to The Direct, Stahelski revealed the film is set in beyond present-day New York and Hong Kong, with Cavill set to play a sword master who’s been alive for over 500 years, training in all sorts of martial arts along the way.

The Highlander films and TV series revolve around an age-old war between immortal warriors who can only be killed via beheading. The cult classic 1986 debut film starred Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, who is trained by Sean Connery’s Ramírez. It fused past and present-day storylines, switching from 16th century Scottish Highlands to 80s New York.

Cavill’s role has yet to be officially revealed, but given his character is over 500 years old and has spent that time training for combat, he’s no doubt one of Highlander’s immortal warriors. The question is, does he play a MacLeod?

Henry Cavill plays a 500 year old martial arts expert in Highlander. Image credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Stahelski offered a vague story setup: "... And 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. There's big opportunity for action. There's a chance to play a character that not a lot of people get to play. And it's a bit of a love story, but not how you think. On John Wick, I learned a lot on how to bend the storytelling a little... another kind of myth."

And on Cavill’s character: "My selling point was, to [Henry Cavill], look, you've got a guy that's been alive for over 500 years. He's the last person in the world that wanted to be in this situation. So you get to cover quite a broad spread of a character arc there. And you get to experience someone that's trained over 500 years and sort of played [with many types of] martial arts..."

In August last year, Stahelski suggested the Highlander reboot could be the start of something big. “I think we have some very good elements now,” he said. “The trick is when you have the tagline ‘there can only be one,' you can’t just kill everybody the first time.”

He continued: “Our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that,” Stahelski continued. “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.”

In Highlander, The Gathering is a summoning that forces the immortal warriors to face each other in what's called the Game.

In April, Cavill bigged-up his training for the Highlander movie, promising even more impressive sword skills than he demonstrated in Netflix’s The Witcher. "If you thought you’d seen me do swordwork before, you haven't seen anything yet," Cavill said.

“I've been a fan of Highlander since I was a lad,” said Cavill on Instagram when the film was announced in 2021. “From the movies in all of their 80s, Queen slathered glory to the TV show with an actor who looked remarkably like one of my brothers. Being not shy with swords, and having a director as talented as Chad Stahelski at the helm, this is an opportunity like no other.”

Stahelski added that he hopes to begin principal photography by spring 2025, with a release date set for 2026.

Image credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.