HIGHLANDER Reboot May Morph into TV Series. Is This a Good Idea?
Horror fans of a certain age have a soft-spot for 1986’s Highlander. Sure, it’s not a horror movie in the strictest sense, but I’ll be damned if The Krugan (played by Clancy Brown) isn’t one of the most exciting and intimidating villains ever put to celluloid. Yes, the sequels were absolute dismissible, but the film also spawned a TV series that ran for 7 seasons.
We’ve been hearing reports of a Highlander reboot with John Wick director Chad Stahelski attached since 2016. Recently, the filmmaker sat down with our friends at Collider to give Highlander fans an update. It sounds like the project may be morphing from a feature film into a TV series—and that’s not necessarily a good thing!
“We’re just trying to figure out the best way not to fuck it up. Not to try and fit it into a 1 hour, 45 minute movie, which, when your pitch is, ‘There can be only one,’ and in your first movie you kill everybody but the one, sequels have a problem of happening. So we’re trying to design in a way that gives us a little more lead in, a little more time with the mythology and see some of the best characters. They did seven seasons of TV, and even though the TV show may not hold up today, the idea of it and the characters they brought in were super cool. So, we’re trying to devise a methodology that leads up to The Quickening.”
For an interesting exploration of the implications of Stahelski’s statement, check out the video at the top of the article from one of our favorite UK film critics and academic, Mr. H. Find out why he believes the project is at a critical impasse and how he, if given the opportunity, would frame a successful reboot. If you’ve never seen Highlander (directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery) check out the synopsis and trailer below.
Synopsis:
When the mystical Russell Nash
(Christopher Lambert) kills a man in a sword fight in a New York City parking
lot, he leaves a sliver of an ancient weapon lodged in a car in the process.
After brilliant forensics specialist Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart) recovers
evidence of the mysterious weapon, she and her partner, Lt. Frank Moran (Alan
North), embark on an investigation Of Nash that will land them in the middle of
a dangerous, centuries-old feud between powerful immortals.
What’s your opinion regarding the upcoming Highlander reboot? Would you prefer a feature film or a TV series? How would you re-frame the mythology for 21st Century audiences? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
