Henry Cavill's Highlander Reboot Just Got a Major Boost as a WWE Superstar Joins the Cast
Swords up: WWE star Drew McIntyre joins the new Highlander movie as Henry Cavill's brother.
Highlander hit the brakes for a minute, but it hasn’t flatlined. In the middle of the pause, there’s a new face: WWE star Drew McIntyre is in, joining Henry Cavill. Yes, the swords-and-immortals reboot keeps quietly leveling up even while the cameras aren’t rolling.
Who McIntyre is playing (and why that matters)
McIntyre will play Angus MacLeod, Connor’s brother. That’s the role James Cosmo had in the 1986 original, which is a nice little lineage nod. And if you’re wondering whether McIntyre can hang in a hard-hitting world like this: he’s been wrestling since 2001 and has two WWE Championship runs under his belt. He dipped a toe into acting last year with the action-comedy The Killer’s Game, where he shared the screen with his now-Highlander co-star Dave Bautista. So the ring-to-screen pipeline is alive and well.
Where production stands (the inside-baseball part)
Pre-production had started up in September, then stopped when Cavill got injured during training. Not ideal for a movie that lives and dies on sword work. The plan, as of now, is to ramp back up in early 2026. That’s a long pause, but it also tells you how physical this one is aiming to be.
The lineup so far
Chad Stahelski, aka the John Wick guy, is directing. The script comes from Michael Finch, who wrote Predators and co-wrote John Wick: Chapter 4. Alongside Cavill and McIntyre, here’s who else is in the mix:
- Russell Crowe
- Marisa Abela
- Karen Gillan
- Djimon Hounsou
- Max Zhang
- Dave Bautista
Quick refresher: what Highlander actually is
The 1986 film followed Christopher Lambert’s Connor MacLeod, an immortal warrior from the 16th-century Scottish Highlands who winds up in 1980s New York for the endgame of a secret war between immortals. Clancy Brown, Sean Connery, and Roxanne Hart co-starred. If this reboot sticks to that core idea, expect mythic sword fights, centuries of grudge-holding, and a lot of 'there can be only one' energy.
Cavill’s take
"It’s a project that I’m extremely excited about. This character is going to be a lot of fun to play, and I’m loving working with Chad Stahelski. He is a very talented man."
The big unknown
No release date yet. Given the restart target is early 2026, patience is going to be part of the package here. But with Cavill swinging a sword again, Stahelski behind the camera, and a cast stacked with heavy hitters (plus an actual WWE champ as Connor’s brother), the ambition is clear—now it just needs time to heal up and get back to work.