The 90s Sci-Fi Fantasy That Takes Place In 2024

Highlander 2 takes place in 2024, where the Earth is shielded from the sun, immortals still walk the Earth, and Sean Connery’s Juan Sanchez-Villalobos Ramirez comes back from the dead. Connor MacLeod, the once-immortal protagonist portrayed by Christopher Lambert, is now a frail old man.

Thrust back into immortal combat, sword fights juxtaposed with the future’s flying cars, oppressive corporate control, and a backstory that significantly deviates from the established Highlander canon because the immortals are apparently aliens from planet Zeist.

Needless to say, the changes Highlander 2 introduced to the Highlander mythos were so wild that the movie received reviews worse than Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, and it’s now considered one of the worst movies ever made. So, why do we talk about it?

Well, the original Highlander 2 suffered the same fate as Joss Whedon’s Justice League, with the original director being unable to finish the movie, which significantly affected the narrative and the quality of the end result. As a result, we can think of Highlander 2: Renegade Version as Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

The two movies have very little in common apart from the fact that the original director came back to finish the job. During the filming of the original Highlander 2, the film’s investors and completion bond company took direct control of production and final edit and removed director Mulcahy and his creative influence while changing parts of the story, which resulted in contracting the established Highlander canon. This, of course, backfired badly for those trying to cash in on the fame of the original movie.Following the exceptionally poor performance and reviews of 1991’s Highlander 2, the Renegade Version was released in 1995 in an attempt to rectify the original’s numerous problems. Mulcahy reconstructed Highlander 2: Renegade Version from preexisting material, removed certain scenes and elements—like immortals being aliens from Zeist—other scenes were added in, and entire sequences of events were changed.

What’s interesting about the Renegade Version is that it affirms our claims that movies are made for audiences. This version has become the main version of the film because the theatrical cut—the horrible one—didn’t have enough demand to warrant any production for home media. As a result, the original Highlander 2 theatrical cut is nearly impossible to find through official sources, which might actually be a good thing. The ultimate point of making a movie is to make money for those involved in its making while providing good entertainment for the viewers.

However, once investors and financial institutions become directors and creatives, the greed kicks in, and the creative process leaves the scene, which is exactly what happened to the original Highlander 2 and its wild and bizarre depictions of the future. Highlander 2: Renegade Version is available for streaming on Tubi.