Henry Cavill shares first look at his sword-wielding Highlander character

The wait is finally over — or at least, we get a proper glimpse. Henry Cavill posted on Instagram yesterday, sharing the first official look at his character in the Highlander reboot. The photos show him wielding a sword in what appears to be Hong Kong and New York, giving us our best look yet at Chad Stahelski's vision for the franchise.

What the first look reveals

Cavill shared two moody images of himself in character, complete with a long coat that's giving serious Blade Runner vibes. In the first photo, he's positioned against what looks like a Hong Kong backdrop, whilst the second places him in New York — both key locations for Stahelski's reimagined story.

"Happy First Look for Highlander!" Cavill wrote alongside the photos. "This has been quite the journey for me, which I'll tell you all about when the time is right, but it's a special moment to be able to share this. I hope you enjoy."

His mention of it being "quite the journey" likely references the leg injury he sustained last year during training, which pushed production back to early 2026.

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Chad Stahelski's vision for the reboot

The John Wick director is bringing the Highlander story forward from the Scottish Highlands to "beyond present-day New York and Hong Kong," as he describes it. His approach sounds distinctly different from the 1986 original.

"We're bringing it forward from the early 1500s in the highlands to the beyond present-day New York and Hong Kong, and seeing how it goes," Stahelski explained. "There's big opportunity for action. There's a chance to play a character that not a lot of people get to play. And it's a bit of a love story, but not how you think."

For Cavill's character specifically, Stahelski pitched him on playing "a guy that's been alive for over 500 years" who's "trained over 500 years and sort of played [with many types of] martial arts." The character arc spans centuries of reluctant immortality.

The cast and franchise potential

Beyond Cavill, the film has assembled an impressive ensemble. WWE star Drew McIntyre will play Angus MacLeod, brother to Cavill's character, whilst Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Dave Bautista, Marisa Abela, and Max Zhang round out the cast.

Stahelski isn't thinking small — he's positioning this as the start of something bigger. "I think we have some very good elements now. The trick is when you have the tagline 'there can only be one,' you can't just kill everybody the first time," he said.

The director is incorporating elements from both the original films and TV series, describing it as "a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property."

Cavill's sword work promises

For anyone who enjoyed Cavill's sword skills in The Witcher, he's promised this will be next level. "If you thought you'd seen me do swordwork before, you haven't seen anything yet," he said in April 2024.

Cavill has been a Highlander fan since childhood, describing his love for "the movies in all of their 80s, Queen slathered glory" when the film was announced in 2021. "Being not shy with swords, and having a director as talented as Chad Stahelski at the helm, this is an opportunity like no other."

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