After decades of the first film from the franchise getting released, Highlander is finally getting its reboot. This would feature Henry Cavill in the lead as the mysterious Scottish swordsman who, after becoming immortal, decides to be Earth’s savior to protect it from other wicked immortals. And as expected, the fans of the franchise are highly anticipating the making and release of this movie.
However, even before its development and release, the reboot risks its chances of succeeding in the entertainment industry. This could happen if the creators make the very same terrible mistake that John Wick made, which eventually compelled Keanu Reeves to return to the screen in the role of the titular character: directly jumping to make the Highlander reboot a vastly extended franchise.
Highlander Reboot Might Make The Same Mistake As John Wick
As fans already know, John Wick helmer Chad Stahelski has already signed a deal with Lionsgate to act as the director for the Highlander reboot movie. And that’s not a problem. In fact, that is great news for the almost four-decade-old franchise.
But the problem is that the filmmaker will be managing both Keanu Reeves and Henry Cavill’s franchises all at once, and for this will be “designing a comprehensive multi-platform content strategy for both franchises,” as per Deadline.
While that is all well and good for the John Wick franchise, which already has a well-established fanbase with four movies, i.e. John Wick film series; a spin-off prequel TV series, i.e. The Continental; and an upcoming spin-off film, Ballerina; the same isn’t the case with the other saga.
Although the Highlander franchise has five of its own movie film series along with an anime movie, two television shows, and one web series, it has been long forgotten by many. Thus, Henry Cavill‘s reboot film will have to find its fans and viewers once again before even thinking of expanding.
And if Stahelski has already planned such a route for the reboot, then he just might be making the same mistake that they did with the John Wick franchise. The showrunners abruptly decided to make The Continental, which was anything but well-received by the audiences due to the same reason.
The John Wick franchise’s mistake caused Keanu Reeves to reprise his role to save the saga despite being a well-established one. However, the Highlander franchise could face an even worse result.
Highlander Reboot Could Succeed If It Learns From John Wick‘s Mistakes
Instead of directly jumping into the multi-platform content strategy for the Highlander reboot that hasn’t even been made yet, Lionsgate and Chad Stahelski should take one step at a time. This will involve a decision to first establish a firm position for the reboot in the industry and find the target audiences.
Learning from the mistakes they made with the John Wick franchise — that ran on to turn a film series directly into a franchise through a spin-off series that fans didn’t even want — the filmmaker should discover all the storylines he could explore in the Cavill-starrer reboot. The reboot already has one massive upper hand: the involvement of mastermind Chad Stahelski, and the star power of Henry Cavill.
Cavill in particular already has an unbeatable record in the mythological genre with his uncompetable performance in The Witcher series. Thus, if the higher-ups decide to be patient with the project and derive as much as they can out of only the reboot film first, the Highlander could eventually get launched into a massive franchise with an incredible fan base, before they even know it.
