The Highlander reboot has cast another major character. The upcoming movie, which is set to be directed by the John Wick franchise’s Chad Stahelski, is a reboot of the 1986 fantasy movie of the same name, which followed the Scottish immortal Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) being mentored by Egyptian immortal Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez (Sean Connery) amid an ancient, violent feud.
In the Highlander reboot, which is scheduled to kick off production in September, Henry Cavill stars as MacLeod opposite Russell Crowe as Ramírez and Marisa Abela in an unknown lead role.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Scottish actor Karen Gillan has now joined the cast of the Highlander reboot as Heather, the mortal wife of MacLeod. In the original movie, her character was portrayed by Beatie Edney, who has since appeared in 42 episodes of Poldark and one episode of Andor.
This new role sees her reuniting with her former Guardians of the Galaxy co-star Dave Bautista, who recently joined the project as the villainous warrior The Kurgan. Gillan portrayed Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe subfranchise, while Bautista played Drax the Destroyer.
Karen Gillan shared a comment on the casting announcement via her official X account, joking that her “dialect coach can sit this one out…“ See the post below:
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What This Means For Highlander
This casting update for Highlander marks only the second time that Karen Gillan and Dave Bautista have appeared in a movie together outside of the Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The only previous non-Marvel movie in which they starred was the 2019 action-comedy Stuber, which also starred Kumail Nanjiani, Mira Sorvino, and Natalie Morales.
Karen Gillan played a minor supporting role in Stuber as the former partner of Dave Bautista’s character, detective Vic Manning.
Additionally, this marks the first time that the pair have worked together since 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
It remains to be seen if the Marvel reunion will help draw attention to the project, but it is entirely possible that it could, given the fact that their final MCU outing was a success. It earned $845.6 million worldwide in 2023, making it the second highest-grossing movie from Phase 5 of the MCU after ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine.
Our Take On Karen Gillan Joining Highlander
Karen Gillan portraying Heather breaks a longstanding tradition of the Highlander movies, which have not typically had the actors’ nationalities match those of their characters. This includes the French-American Christopher Lambert playing a Scottish character, the Scottish Sean Connery playing an Egyptian character, and the English Beatie Edney playing a Scottish character.
In addition to Gillan finally bringing a Scottish background to a Scottish character in Highlander, she comes with a great deal of experience in the action genre that leaves her well-prepared to portray her character. In addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, this experience comes from тιтles including the Jumanji movies and Gunpowder Milkshake.
