Highlander’s Wild Beginnings: The Untold Origin of an 80s Cult Classic

If you only know Highlander as that weird, loud 80s fantasy with Queen songs and a guy named The Kurgan, you are not wrong. What you might not know: it bombed in theaters, then quietly morphed into a full-on franchise. The story of how it got made is a ride — and yes, someone nearly took Sean Connery's head off on day one. This breakdown comes from the latest What Happened to This Horror Movie episode on Highlander, written by Jaime Vasquez, and it is loaded with the kind of nerdy behind-the-scenes details I live for.

The spark: a fireman, a tower, and immortals

Gregory Widen was 20 when the idea hit. He was touring the Tower of London, watching reenactors in period costumes, and thought: what if those weren't costumes? What if these people have actually been around since then? That became Connor MacLeod. Widen was juggling UCLA film school and a full-time firefighting job, writing scenes between calls and admitting he sometimes did it with an axe in hand — which tracks, given how visceral the battles feel.

The script's time-hopping rhythm — modern New York colliding with 16th-century Scotland — came from living two lives at once. Another key influence: Ridley Scott's The Duellists, a long-simmering rivalry that evolved into Highlander's myth of immortals hunting each other across centuries.

From classroom to cash: $200,000 and some rewrites

The script started as Shadow Clan. Widen turned it in to UCLA professor Richard Walter, who gave it an A and all but shoved him toward an agent. The sale: $200,000. Three production companies jumped aboard, including Davis-Panzer Productions. Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson — who had previously teamed up on HBO's St. Helens — were hired to rework the draft. They added humor and more emotional shading. Widen later flagged a continuity miss: MacLeod shrugs off being stabbed like pain doesn't matter, which he never intended. Still, those rewrites shaped the movie that rolled cameras.

Enter Russell Mulcahy: the music video phenom who got it

By the mid-80s, Russell Mulcahy was the guy for glossy, kinetic music videos — Duran Duran, Elton John, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel — and he had one cult film under his belt, Razorback. What pulled him toward Highlander wasn't just swordplay; it was the heartbreak. An immortal who outlives everyone he loves? That's a tragedy, not just a gimmick.

Co-writer Bellwood pointed Ferguson to Mulcahy's Duran Duran work and the wild Razorback finale. Ferguson's reaction: 'This may be our guy.' He was right.

Connor casting chaos: from Kurt Russell to a Tarzan who didn't speak English

The studio cycled through names: Michael Douglas, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson. Kurt Russell actually landed the role — then bailed at Goldie Hawn's request to go do John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China.

Mulcahy then spotted a magazine photo of Christopher Lambert from Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan and declared, basically, 'that guy.' The hitch: Lambert didn't speak English yet. A language coach fixed that fast, and Mulcahy said his 'piercing, ancient' eyes sealed it — the face of a man who's seen centuries.

Connery in a week, a million bucks, and a real friendship

To add serious star wattage, the studio brought in Sean Connery as Juan Sanchez-Villalobos Ramirez, MacLeod's immortal mentor. He shot all of his scenes in a single week for $1 million. The chemistry between Connery and Lambert sells the mentor-student bond, and off-camera they clicked for real. Lambert loved working with him so much he refused to do the sequel unless Connery came back.

The Kurgan almost decapitates Bond

Clancy Brown, recommended by Sting, took on The Kurgan, the hulking immortal stalking MacLeod in modern-day New York. Brown later said he basically wasn't paid because he was such an unknown. He also scared the crew with how hard he went. Day one, he slammed the flat of his sword into a table, the blade snapped, and a shard whipped past Connery's head. Connery understandably walked off. Brown apologized; Connery returned with a dry suggestion: maybe use the stuntman next time.

Roxanne Hart, forensic sense, and reassuring the beheadings

Roxanne Hart joined as Brenda Wyatt, the forensic scientist piecing together those very weird decapitation cases. She hesitated over the violence until producer Peter Davis convinced her the beheadings had a mythological purpose, not splatter-for-splatter's sake.

How Queen ended up writing multiple bangers

Mulcahy loved Queen's Flash Gordon soundtrack and asked for a theme. The band was iffy — until they read the script and saw footage. Then they all started writing. Brian May wrote Who Wants to Live Forever on the cab ride home after his first screening. A dedicated Highlander soundtrack album was planned, then scrapped; most of the songs landed on Queen's 1986 record A Kind of Magic, titled after a line from the film. Princes of the Universe became the film's opener and later the theme for Highlander: The Series.

Shooting: freezing mud, a lost Gretzky cameo, and a wandering finale

They filmed in New York, Scotland, and England. Scotland's weather was a full-body experience: freezing rain, deep mud, and numb fingers. The original opening duel was supposed to unfold at a hockey game — there was even talk of a Wayne Gretzky cameo — but the NHL said no. The team pivoted to a pro-wrestling event, which Mulcahy somehow makes look like that was the plan all along.

The final duel location bounced around in rewrites: Statue of Liberty, then an amusement park, finally the Silvercup Studios rooftop. The cast did ten weeks of sword training, which still didn't prevent chaos like the Connery near-miss.

Release: flop numbers, strong feelings

Highlander opened in March 1986 with a $2.5 million first weekend. Worldwide, it topped out at $12.9 million against a $16 million budget. Not great. But critics weren't out for blood. It sits at a 69% critics score and 79% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 7.0 on IMDb. One take nails the split:

People hate Highlander because it is cheesy, bombastic, and absurd. And people love it for the same reasons.

Then home video did what home video used to do best: it turned a theatrical fumble into a cult classic, and the IP exploded.

The empire Highlander built

• Sequels: Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994), Highlander: Endgame (2000), Highlander: The Source (2007)
• TV: Highlander: The Series, Highlander: The Raven, Highlander: The Animated Series
• Plus: novels, comics, and video games
• In the works: a reboot with Henry Cavill starring and John Wick director Chad Stahelski behind the camera

Why the original still wins

You can make a dozen spin-offs, but both Christopher Lambert and Gregory Widen still say nobody has topped the 1986 original. Mulcahy's go-for-broke style, Queen's wall-to-wall soundtrack, and Widen's melancholy core — love, loss, and the curse of living forever — give it real staying power.

Almost 40 years later, Highlander keeps finding new fans. Like its immortals, it just will not die. And in the end, you know the line: there can be only one.