Summit’s attempt to mount a new version of 1986’s action fantasy Highlander has been through the development wringer, with multiple script drafts and several directors attached before dropping off. The studio is hoping to give the film a kick up the casting chain, eyeing Tom Cruise to take over the mentor role originally played by Sean Connery.
Don’t expect to see Cruise practising a Scots brogue any time soon, though: according to The Wrap’s sources, this is still merely wishful thinking on Summit’s part, and Cruise is the sort of big name that everyone approaches first anyway.
Still, it could be an interesting development if he decides he’s up for it, guiding whoever takes over as main man Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert in the original films) through his battle to become the lone immortal stalking the Earth. Or whatever variant on the story current director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan has come up with from the script by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Melissa Rosenberg. Cruise has been busy strapping himself to planes and doing other mad things for Mission: Impossible 5 and has yet to settle on a new film, so Highlander will just have to get in line.