Dave Bautista Joins Chad Stahelski’s ‘Highlander’ Reboot, Will Play the Villain

Sources are telling Deadline that Dave Bautista will star in Chad Stahelski’s “Highlander” for Amazon/MGM.

Bautista is set to join Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe in Stahelski’s revival of the 1980s cult swords-and-sorcery epic. He’ll take on the role of the Kurgan—the brutal, immortal villain originally portrayed by Clancy Brown in the 1986 “Highlander,” which co-starred Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert.

Bautista has quietly carved out one of the more interesting post-wrestling film careers, showing a surprising range and a sharp instinct for choosing collaborators. He’s already worked with the likes of Denis Villeneuve, Rian Johnson, Sam Mendes, James Gunn and M. Night Shyamalan.

The “Highlander” reboot has had multiple production delays, Stahelski last mentioned that it would shoot in January, but then “Ballerina” needed some refining. Regardless, the film will be starting production next month, with a potential release eyed for late 2026.

Stahelski, the filmmaker who turned “John Wick” into a billion-dollar franchise, wanted a $180M budget to relaunch “Highlander.” Lionsgate balked, capping their interest at a still-eye-opening $165M. Amazon, because they light cigars with money, said sure, and took over the project. The script was written by Michael Finch, co-writer of “John Wick: Chapter 4.”

“Highlander” will no doubt showcase Stahelski’s signature style—balletic action, especially in sword fighting; it will probably be, stylistically speaking, very different from the 1986 original, which notoriously spawned three terrible sequels.

So far, only Cavill, Crowe, and Bautista have been announced, but with pre-production ramping up, more actors will likely be added to the cast in the coming weeks.