Following her time playing Amy Pond in Doctor Who, Karen Gillan transitioned into a full-fledged movie star from playing Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Ruby Roundhouse in the modern Jumanji movies, amongst other projects. Now the actress has added another franchise to her resume, as she’ll star opposite Henry Cavill in the Highlander reboot. While the casting itself is interesting enough, what’s even better is how Gillan reacted to the news.
First things first, THR revealed today that Gillan has come aboard Highlander to play Heather, the mortal wife of Cavill’s character, Conor MacLeod. Heather was played by Beatie Edney in the original Highlander, but it’s unclear if the reboot will use Gillan’s version in roughly the same way or if the character will be utilized differently, perhaps with her role expanded. In any case, Gillan , most recently seen in The Life of Chuck, said the following on Instagram when she passed along the news of her casting:
My dialect coach can sit this one out…so excited to be an actual Highlander in ‘Highlander’!!! #therecanbeonlyone
Karen Gillan is referring to the fact that she’s Scottish, because in the original Highlander, Conor MacLeod lived in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century before he became an immortal warrior. It sounds like we can expect the same from Henry Cavill’s Conor, though whether or not he’ll still have that accent in the present day remains to be seen. For Gillan, this means she can be her authentic Scottish self in Highlander rather than adopt a different accent like she did when playing Nebula and Ruby. Sorry, Karen’s acting coach, you’ll need to find someone else to work with as the long-awaited reboot is shooting.
This will also now serve as a Guardians of the Galaxy reunion, as Dave Bautista, who co-starred with Karen Gillan in those Marvel movies as Drax, has been cast as The Kurgan. The lineup of Highlander actors also includes Russell Crowe as Ramirez (Crowe and Cavill previously worked together on Man of Steel) and Industry’s Marisa Abela in an undisclosed role. Chad Stahelski, whom Lionsgate gave creative oversight over both the Highlander and John Wick franchises, is directing the feature off a script written by Michael Finch.
Highlander is expected to begin filming at the end of September, but there’s no word yet about when it will be released in theaters. Karen Gillan’s other upcoming movies include Let’s Have Kids!, The Trip and Jumanji 4, the latter of which is scheduled for December 11 on the 2026 movies schedule.