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There’s more Highlander casting news… and Alasdair Stuart finds it both good and offhandedly disappointing!

The good first: Karen Gillan has been cast as Heather MacLeod in the upcoming Highlander remake. The movie will star Henry Cavill as MacLeod, Dave Bautista as The Kurgan and Marisa Abela in an unnamed role that I’m guessing is going to be Brenda Wyatt, the role originated by Roxanne Hart in the 1985 movie. Brenda’s a fun character, an NYPD affiliated scientist who discovers MacLeod’s immortality.

Gillan is a perfect choice, so much she joked on social media about how her dialect coach ‘can sit this one out.’ And if you’ve somehow missed her epochal turns in Doctor Who and various Marvel movies and the Jumanji franchise AND her brilliant work in Mike Flanagan’s oculus AND The Life of Chuck AND Dual AND her writing and directing debut The Party’s Just Beginning you’re in for a treat. Several treats in fact.

So why is this disappointing? Because for some reason this is what’s finally allowed it to sink in that this is a remake. There are so many things you can do with this franchise, not the least of which is not casting Cavill, the patron saint of polite Englishness, as a Scot. That being said, him being MacLeod and Russell Crowe playing the world’s most Australian Scottish/Egyptian/Spaniard is at least in keeping with the original.

There’s also the sneaking worry though that this is going to waste Gillan on a three scene character. She’s phenomenally talented in a half dozen different ways and Heather isn’t that big a part of the original. It’d a shame to see her come and go so fast.

Regardless, it’s a great cast for a movie we’re very excited for. And hey it’s a remake so maybe they can give Heather more to do this time.

Highlander starts filming in September.