Henry Cavill is set to reboot a franchise that will replace John Wick, but the plans for it are already very different to Keanu Reeves’ hit franchise.

Henry Cavill is set to lead an action movie that is intended to serve as a John Wick replacement, but it’s already so different from Keanu Reeves’ action franchise that its future might not be as bright as expected. Henry Cavill has earned a place in the action genre thanks to his roles in projects like the TV series The Witcher and movies like Man of Steel and Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and he will continue on that path with Argylle and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. In addition to these, Cavill is set to play the lead role in the reboot of the Highlander franchise, which has been in development since 2020.

Highlander follows Connor MacLeod, a man born in Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century and who is part of a number of immortals empowered by the Quickening. The first Highlander movie, released in 1986, spawned a franchise with a total of six movies, two TV shows, one web series, and one animated film, and it’s now getting a reboot with John Wick’s Chad Stahelski as director – and Stahelski has ambitious plans for Highlander that are worryingly different from what was done with the John Wick franchise.

Highlander’s Franchise Plans Are The Opposite Of What Made John Wick Work

As mentioned above, the Highlander reboot has been in active development since 2020, though plans to continue this universe had been discussed since 2008. In 2021, Henry Cavill was announced as the lead actor for the Highlander reboot, and the project finally looks to be moving forward after all these years. Speaking to Deadline, Stahelski, who has now inked a new deal with Lionsgate, opened up about the futures of the John Wick franchise and the Highlander reboot, sharing that he will design a “comprehensive multi-platform content strategy” for both.

With four movies, a spin-off prequel TV series, and an upcoming spin-off movie, the John Wick franchise is now at a point where a multi-platform content strategy would definitely work, and it has built a fanbase strong enough to support this plan. John Wick worked its way to get to this, as it started as a good movie with the potential to expand and gradually build a franchise, but Highlander isn’t at that point just yet. Despite rebooting a franchise, Highlander has to find its audience again and prove it can be entertaining enough to expand, but with this plan from the beginning, Highlander risks tanking before a franchise can even start.

Can Highlander Pull Off Its Franchise Plans?

Despite this multi-platform content strategy being too rushed for Highlander, the reboot already has a couple of strengths that can help it succeed and build a new franchise. With Stahelski on board as director, and after the impressive job he did with the John Wick franchise, Highlander is in great hands, and thanks to it already being an established property, there’s plenty of material to draw from and build on. Highlander also has Henry Cavill’s star power on its side, especially after his time in The Witcher as Geralt of Rivia.

However, Stahelski and the John Wick franchise already went through some rough patches, as the first spinoff – the prequel TV series The Continental – didn’t do well with critics and viewers. However, Stahelski and the Highlander team can learn from the mistakes of John Wick’s first spinoff so the Highlander franchise can succeed, though the Highlander reboot is already betting too much before it even begins filming.