Chad Stahelski gives an update on Highlander, which could become a TV series

Although Chad Stahelski has remained firmly entrenched in the neon and blood-soaked world of John Wick for the past few years, he does have another potential franchise in his pocket – a reboot of the HIGHLANDER series. Other than Stahelski recently confirming that it's still very much something he'd like to do, there hasn't been all that much movement on the project in recent months.

While chatting with Collider, the JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM director provided an update on where they're at with HIGHLANDER, and unfortunately, it seems that they're still trying to figure out the best way to present it.

Still fighting the good fight. Highlander is an interesting property. It’s through Lionsgate as well and Neal Moritz. We’re trying to get it done. Anyone who knows anything about the property knows it has a lot of meat to it. It’s a good property. It’s got a lot of potential. We’re just trying to figure out the best way not to fuck it up. Not to try and fit it into a 1 hour, 45 minute movie, which, when your pitch is, ‘There can be only one,’ and in your first movie you kill everybody but the one, sequels have a problem of happening. So we’re trying to design in a way that gives us a little more lead in, a little more time with the mythology and see some of the best characters. They did seven seasons of TV, and even though the TV show may not hold up today, the idea of it and the characters they brought in were super cool. So we’re trying to devise a methodology that leads up to The Quickening. You just don’t end with a one-on-one battle in New York, cut off a guy’s head, and that’s it. We want to do this in such a way that it becomes more of a series whether it’s short form or long form that would let us explore that in the best way. I have a huge, heartfelt love and respect for the project, so we’re trying to find the best way to do it to give fans what they want.

Chad Stahelski has previously said that he wants to transform HIGHLANDER into a trilogy, so it's obvious he's in it for the long haul. If the HIGHLANDER project does shift from movies to television, Stahelski isn't worried that being limited by the small-screen. "We want to tell the complete story of The Quickening, the Immortals, and all that. But the overall environment is changing so much. Look what Netflix is doing with TV now. As an action designer myself, there are two or three episodes of Game of Thrones that blow away 90% of features," Stahelski said. "Netflix has a whole new delivery system with features on that coming off differently and letting filmmakers and directors expand out without being crushed by opening weekend box office. So there’s a couple different mediums we want to explore and what is the best way to bring this out in." While we wait for whatever form HIGHLANDER ultimately takes, we'll get to enjoy John Wick (Keanu Reeves) handing out head-shots in JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM on May 17, 2019.

Source: Collider

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Based in Canada, Kevin Fraser has been a news editor with JoBlo since 2015. When not writing for the site, you can find him indulging in his passion for baking and adding to his increasingly large collection of movies that he can never find the time to watch.