The Highlander franchise is one of the greatest cult properties to come out of the ‘80s. Packed with a great soundtrack, an intriguing lore, and tons of awesome swordplay, Highlander defined urban fantasy for a generation. While the installments varied in terms of quality, it has nonetheless maintained its strong following over the decades, building up a dedicated fan base that yearns for the day when the franchise can return from the dead.
Sadly, that may not happen anytime soon. With a reboot stuck in development hell and the poor reception to the last few Highlander sequels, fans may have to remain content with what they already have. More so than other fanbases, Highlander fans have grown used to disappointment. While the original movie and the TV show are held in high accord, the sequels have fared poorly. Highlander II is often called one of the worst sequels ever made, and past attempts at trying to ret-con the movie out of the franchise haven’t done the franchise any favors.
Which makes it difficult to arrange the movies, particularly the live action ones, in chronological order. With the continuity all over the place and its connected tissue splintered across multiple installments, the series is almost impossible to view as a cohesive whole. But we’re going to try it anyway.
Highlander (1986)
The one that started it all is still regarded by fans as the best movie in the series. Taking place inn 16th century Scotland and 1980’s New York, with a few historical periods thrown in between, the movie follows Connor MacLeod, an Immortal locked in a deadly game called, well, the game. The rules are simple; Immortals must lob each other’s heads off until there is only one victor. Because there can be only one!
While the movie is far from perfect, Highlander is still a fun, action-packed, and occasionally silly romp that combines history, magic, and romance. It features a cast of colorful characters that are surprisingly well rounded, like Sean Connery’s Ramirez and Clancy Brown’s Victor Kurgan, both of whom are compelling, witty and endlessly quotable. And no one can talk about Highlander without mentioning the soundtrack. Performed by Queen, it featured some of the band’s greatest ballads of the ‘80s, like Who Wants to Live Forever? and Prince of the Universe. It could be argued that the soundtrack is the part of the movie that the majority of audiences remember the most.
After the movie became an unexpected sleeper hit, talk of a sequel began. However, the problem with making a sequel to Highlander was that the first movie was never meant to have one in the first place. The movie ended with Connor killing Victor Kurgan, winning the prize, and becoming ‘The One.’ It was an open and closed book that left no room for a continuation. But that didn’t stop Hollywood from churning out four awful sequels, spread out across different continuities like the aftermath of a Jenga game.
Highlander: The Final Dimension (1994)
The most forgetful of the Highlander movies, The Final Detention retcons the second movie (Highlander II: The Quickening) and presents itself as the true continuation of the original. We’ll mention in a moment why this is a good thing, but for now, just know that it takes place not long after the events of the first film, and largely retreads many of the same story beats from the former.
Despite borrowing heavily from a superior film, the movie’s plot is kind of stupid to say the least. While the game ended almost ten years before, everything restarts the moment a long-lost Immortal wakes up from a block of ice. So, the movie’s saying that the game just forgot that this Immortal popsicle existed? And now Connor needs to re-win his prize because some schmuck was late to the contest? Obviously, the rules of the game are best understood if the audiences leave their brain at the door.
Highlander: Endgame (2000)
While the franchise continued to be dragged through the mud on the big screen, it was a different story on television. Highlander: The Series had expanded the franchise’s appeal and even won a number of awards along the way. So, it would make sense to combine the two separate, but loosely connected series into one cohesive whole. Endgame brought Duncan and Connor MacLeod together to fight a common foe, leading to a conclusion that brought a definitive end to the former’s saga.
Often called the best of the sequels, Endgame has become the topic of extreme debate in the Highlander fandom. While some think it’s a misunderstood marvel, others claim that the addition of Duncan McLeod was simply an excuse to cash in on the popularity of the TV show. Critics were harsh, but not as much as they had been to previous installments.
Highlander: The Source (2007)
To show just what kind of shape the Highlander franchise was in 2007, take a moment to consider that the last movie in the official live action series, The Source, was never released in theaters. Instead, it joined the ranks of ‘classics’ like Sharknado when it premiered as a Sci-fi Channel original movie (before it was rebranded into SyFy). Yeah, things were that dire.
Set in the near future, the movie brought back much of the original cast from the TV show and served as a conclusion to Duncan McLeod’s story. The movie has McLeod and his friends tracking down a ‘the source’ of the Immortal’s power, all of which was supposed to launch a new trilogy of movies that would bring the series to a definitive end. But remember, this is the SyFy channel we’re talking about.
The Source got straddled with all the baggage most SyFy movies end up with, like bad acting, a terrible script and cheap production values. Needless to say, fans weren’t happy. The debate still rages today over whether or not The Source is the worst movie in the series, given its indifferent to its own quality. As evidenced by the lack of any new Highlander movies as of late, we can conclude that The Source was the straw that broke the camel’s back, ending any chances for sequels.
Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
Highlander II: The Quickening takes place in 2024, placing it last in the series’ timeline. While it can be argued that The Source takes place around the same time, The Quickening has a concrete date to back it up.
Despised by anyone with a sense of taste, Highlander II is notorious for having one of the most difficult production cycles of any movie in history. After choosing to film the movie in Argentina, record-high inflation caused the budget explode after the nation was plunged into a recession. Desperate to recoup their losses, the film’s insurers took creative control of the movie’s production, resulting in a Pandora’s box of plot holes and continuity errors that continues to haunt the franchise to this day.
Notable examples include turning the Immortals into aliens, changing the rules of the game so that Immortals can come back to life whenever they want, and changing the plot so that Connor and Ramirez had known each other for centuries before the first movie. We could go on, but we can already feel our IQs beginning to drop, so it’s best to stop while we still have a chance.
