Highlander Reboot Snags John Wick Director

A remake of Highlander has been talked about for a long time but development on it has been spotty (at best). We heard last year that Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 star Dave Bautista could be playing the villain of the film, but since then, mum’s been the word.

Now we hear that Highlander is moving decidedly forward, and having tapped a director to helm the project. And as a new report reveals, that director will be none other than Chad Stahelski, one half of John Wick‘s directorial team.

Lionsgate has been working on the reboot since 2008, and before Stahelksi there were a number of up and coming directors who got the job (Justin Lin, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo). However, with Stahelski onboard there is clearly going to be a shift in approach, with action swordplay likely to dominate over the stylistic drama of the original 1986 film. That’s probably a suitably fine change for fans of the franchise; the Highlander TV series emphasized a lot more action than the film, and had a nice six season run as a result.

Speaking about Highlander, Stahelski told THR, “I’ve been a huge fan of the original property since I saw it in high school. Such great themes of immortality, love, and identity are all wrapped up in such colorful mythology. I can’t think of a better property that gives the opportunity to create interesting characters, mythic themes and action set pieces.”

A writer for the project is still being located, so there’s no word yet on what the exact story approach will be. The original film jumped back and forth from 16th century Medieval Scotland to 1980s New York; the reboot could do much the same – though hopefully with more exciting flashback sequences of medieval style battle.

Meanwhile, Stahelski’s John Wick directing partner David Leitch is also finding big success: he just landed a job directing Deadpool 2. If that wasn’t enough, they also have John Wick 2 hitting theaters in February.

We’ll keep you updated on the status of the Highlander reboot.