Exclusive: Chris Evans In Talks To Replace Henry Cavill In Highlander
We've learned Chris Evans is looking to replace Henry Cavill as the lead of the Highlander remake.
There can be only one, and it looks like the guy best known as Steve Rogers wants to be that one. Our trusted and proven sources tell us that Chris Evans is in negotiations to replace Henry Cavill as the lead of the upcoming Highlander reboot. This news comes only days after we hearing one of the only updates we’ve received in a while from director Chad Stahelski during promotion for John Wick: Chapter 4.
We don’t know exactly why Henry Cavill needs to be replaced in the Highlander remake, though we first learned of his getting dropped just a couple of months ago. At the time it looked like — just as he has been in Netflix’s The Witcher — rather than Chris Evans, Cavill would be replaced by a Hemsworth; Chris Hemsworth to be exact. But it looks like the studio now wants to go with a different Chris.
Chris Evans is an interesting choice to replace Henry Cavill as the hero of Highlander, and perhaps that’s exactly why Marvel‘s former Captain America star is interested in the role. Evans hasn’t done a lot of work with non-American accents (which would seem mandatory unless they’re changing the name to New Englander), nor has he gone in for much swords & sorcery fare. In fact, a quick scan of his IMDb shows Evans has yet to star in a period piece set any earlier than the twentieth century.
Should Chris Evans replace Henry Cavill in Highlander, he’s likely to not only appear in parts of the narrative set much earlier than the twentieth century, but in scenes from all across history. The hero of the original 1986 film — Connor MacLeod played by Christopher Lambert — is a Scotsman born in the 16th century who learns he is immortal and destined to fight in a final battle with other immortals for a divine prize. While set primarily in the twentieth century, the film includes flashbacks to other time periods to show other adventures in MacLeod’s long life.
More of Highlander‘s mythology was fleshed out in Highlander: The Series by Adrian Paul who starred as Duncan MacLeod — another immortal who is trained by Connor before they go their separate ways.
While the news of Chris Evans looking to take Henry Cavill’s spot might be a surprise, it shouldn’t be too much of a shock considering the number of actors whose names have been attached to the project ever since Summit Entertainment, which is owned by Lionsgate, bought the rights 15 years ago. Those names include Justin Lin of the Fast & Furious Franchise, Ryan Reynolds, and Tom Cruise.
Just last week, Chad Stahelski talked about one of the reasons why his Highlander reboot is taking so long. Unlike the acclaimed John Wick franchise, he told Deadline, tackling Highlander has him facing a daunting mythology:
“With Wick, you weren’t serving seven seasons of TV plus two spinoffs plus five films. If I were to do a remake of Highlander right now, you’d expect a lot of mythology in those first two hours; you couldn’t explore stuff without it.”
-Chad Stahelski
