Henry Cavill already has a replacement for The Witcher and Superman thanks to his role in the Highlander reboot, and this is already avoiding the mistake that killed the original franchise. Henry Cavill is one of the most popular action stars thanks to his roles in movies like Mission: Impossible – Fallout and his time as the DC Extended Universe’s Superman, as well as his performance as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher. With the DCEU over, Cavill not being part of the DC Universe reboot, and he leaving The Witcher after season 3, Cavill now has a replacement for these thanks to the Highlander reboot.
Despite having other action projects coming up in the near future, Cavill’s real replacement for The Witcher and Superman is the Highlander reboot. The project has been in active development since 2020, with Cavill confirmed to star in it in 2021. The Highlander reboot is finally moving forward with Chad Stahelski as director and with a screenplay by Mike Finch, and it’s expected to begin filming sometime in 2024. Despite still being in pre-production, Highlander is already avoiding the mistake that killed the franchise years ago.
Highlander’s Sequels Killed The Franchise
Highlander II is one of the worst movies ever made.
The first Highlander movie was released in 1986, and it followed Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), a man born in Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century and who is part of a number of immortals empowered by the Quickening. Despite getting mixed reviews during its initial release and being a box office failure, over the years Highlander became a cult film and made way for a franchise with various sequels, an animated movie, three TV series, a web series, and books, among other media.
Highlander II got negative reviews, was a big box-office bomb, and is now considered one of the worst movies ever made.
However, the Highlander sequels weren’t well received, and couldn’t earn a cult status like the first movie. The Highlander franchise was killed right away with the first sequel, Highlander II: The Quickening, mainly set in 2024 with flashbacks to events from the 1990s and hundreds of years back, as well. Highlander II sees Connor regaining his youth and immortal abilities and having to free Earth from the Shield, while also exploring the origin story of the immortals. Unfortunately, Highlander II got negative reviews, was a big box-office bomb, and is now considered one of the worst movies ever made.
Even worse for the Highlander franchise, subsequent sequels couldn’t save it, with Highlander III: The Sorcerer being called cheap and a copy of the first movie (and, unsurprisingly, bombing at the box office), Highlander: Endgame labeled as a “confusingmess” by critics (via Rotten Tomatoes), and Highlander: The Source also being a massive critical and commercial failure.
Highlander Has Already Ensured It Won’t Repeat Its Original Sequel Mistake
The Highlander reboot is in good hands with Chad Stahelski.
Luckily for the Highlander reboot, it’s already on a different path that can avoid the sequel mistakes of the original franchise thanks to Chad Stahelski. Stahelski will not only serve as the director of the project, but he has also shared his plans for it, revealing he’s designing a “comprehensive multi-platform content strategy” for both the Highlander and John Wick franchise, the latter expanding with spinoffs, at the moment. Stahelski oversaw the John Wick franchise, which successfully made it to four consistently good movies, though the same can’t be said for its first spinoff.
Stahelski, then, has proven he can handle an action franchise and properly develop it with consistently good quality. It’s too early to predict how far the Highlander reboot can go with sequels and if it will surpass the John Wick franchise, but Stahelski having creative control over it means the Highlander franchise won’t repeat its past sequel mistakes.
Highlander Has The Potential To Replace Henry Cavill’s 2 Biggest Franchises
Highlander can be Henry Cavill’s next big success.
Although the plans for the Highlander reboot are different from John Wick’s, Stahelski’s track record with developing a franchise is great news for Highlander. Cavill is also no stranger to leading franchises, and despite the flaws of The Witcher franchise, he successfully carried it until his departure (his history with Superman, however, is more complex). These two elements coming together paint a promising future for the Highlander reboot, potentially turning it into the franchise that successfully replaces the DCEU and The Witcher in Cavill’s career.
Of course, a big part of the secret for the Highlander reboot to not crash and burn is to learn from the franchise’s past mistakes. Stahelski and company must keep in mind what made the Highlander sequels (especially Highlander II) so terrible, though that doesn’t mean copying the John Wick formula step by step. Highlander has a bright future ahead, and hopefully, it will succeed where the original franchise failed.
