John Wick director Chad Stahelski's long-awaited Highlander reboot looks set to be a modern retelling of Connor MacLeod's centuries-old feud with his fellow powerful immortals. If you've not seen the 1986 original, it follows those immortals in a fight to the death to absorb each other's powers. In the end, there can be "only one."
The cast will be led by The Witcher star Henry Cavill as Connor, with Dune's Dave Bautista set to take on the role of the villainous Kurgan. In the original movie, the powerful big bad was responsible for untold destruction and chaos by killing, raping, and plundering, and took the heads of many Immortals during his 3000 years of life.
Connor's going to need some formidable backup, and he's just found it in WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre. Deadline (via TheRingReport.com) has revealed that the two-time WWE Champion and 2020 Royal Rumble winner has joined the cast of Amazon MGM's Highlander as the brother of Cavill's character, Angus MacLeod.
Portrayed by James Cosmo in the original Highlander, that version of Angus was Connor's cousin, so this marks a noteworthy change.
Highlander will mark a reunion for McIntyre and Bautista, after the former previously made his feature debut in 2024's The Killer's Game. Stahelski's 87Eleven stunt and action team worked on that movie, suggesting they Stahelski was impressed by what they saw from the professional wrestler.
McIntyre spoke to B/R last year about working alongside Bautista, and credited the Guardians of the Galaxy star and former WWE Superstar with helping him adapt to the pressures of working on a movie set.
"I certainly never thought it would come easy to me," he said. "It was quite the opposite. 'Oh, man, this is going to be totally different and I don't know what to expect.' I guess most people would have the thought, 'I just hope I don't suck,' more than anything. But as soon as I got there, Dave was there right on the set asking me if I was nervous."
"I told him yes, and he said he was nervous, which blew my mind after all the success he's had and all the diverse roles and big movies he's been part of, so that helped relax me initially."
"When I got in front of that camera and saw that red light, my whole body just relaxed, basically growing up in front of the world on camera," McIntyre added. "That's my comfort zone. As soon as that red light went on, I just relaxed instantly."
We recently learned that production on Highlander has been postponed after Cavill was injured during pre-production while training for the movie. Now, cameras aren't expected to begin rolling until early next year.
Highlander, which was written by Michael Finch, also stars Russell Crowe, Marisa Abela, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, and Max Zhang. The movie isn't expected to be released until 2027 or 2028, with the latter looking more likely following Cavill's injury.