HIGHLANDER: Script Complete, Pre-Production Begins This Fall

Nearly ten years since Summit Entertainment acquired the rights to longstanding cult classic, Highlander, trade sites are now reporting that Rampage scribe Ryan Condal has turned in a script that has met the studio’s approval. The news brings movement closer to pre-production this October for a 2019 release date to be determined thereafter following director Chad Stahelski’s completion of John Wick: Chapter Three.

Stahelski was attached to the film officially back in November 2016 after years of casting rumors and circulation of the projects among several scribes and potential directors. The noted stunt specialist and bugeoning narrative filmmaker whose career at the helm exploded to fan acclaim with the John Wick franchise next to co-director and exec producer David Leitch, went a few steps further last year in talks with Collider, even hinting that the proposed ‘love story through time… with a lot of sword fights’ would ultimately forsee a comprehensive trilogy.

Per Deadline: “We’ve finally got a screenplay we’re happy with,” Patrick Wachsberger, Head of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group tells me. “We have set up the story so it has sequel potential.” 

Russell Mulcahy directed the Christopher Lambert starrer telling of a swordsman forged as an immortal centuries ago and brought into a culminating battlefield to avenge his beloved in present day New York City. Despite flopping at the box office, the film ascended to cult reception in the years that followed along with the profusion of sequels and TV shows.

Condal’s completion on the script also lands him in the throes of Amazon with the current development of a Conan series with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his iconic role for the streaming network.