After nearly two decades spent in development hell, the Highlander reboot finally began filming this past January, which was a few months later than originally intended due to Henry Cavill injuring himself. Among the people who are joining Cavill, who was cast as the new Connor McLeod back in 2021, is Siobhán Cullen, star of the British TV series Babies. Cullen has boarded the new Highlander to play Brenda, and I’m all in on how the reboot is changing the character compared to the Brenda we met in the original movie.
For those who haven’t seen 1986’s Highlander for a long time or have not even seen it (I had a truly WTF experience watching it for the first time in February), Brenda Wyatt, played by Roxanne Hart, was a forensic scientist and metallurgy expert who crossed paths with Christopher Lambert’s Connor in New York City and was drawn into his conflict with Clancy Brown’s The Kurgan, a fellow immortal. In an interview with Deadline, Siobhán Cullen said that while her version of Brenda took “lots of inspiration” from Hart’s performance, the character is “totally different” for the Highlander reboot, explaining:
We find her at a different time in her life. We find her getting into trouble and when she meets Connor on a pivotal night, as a mortal, she gets swept up in the world of immortals. Because she is mortal in this immortal work, she’s kind of the eyes of the audience because she is being introduced into this whole new world, which totally upends her whole understanding of humanity and time and what’s possible.
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Siobhán Cullen understandably didn’t go into any specifics, but this sounds like Brenda’s entire background has been altered for the new Highlander. In the original movie, she was only drawn into the world of immortals dueling one another to obtain The Prize because the police called her in to examine shards of Connor’s sword left behind after he beheaded an immortal named Fasil. She then followed the clues and tracked down Connor, where she saw him fighting The Kurgan.
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Cullen’s mention of this being a “different time” in her Brenda’s life has me thinking that not only will her forensic/metallurgy background not be explored, it’s entirely possible that she runs into Connor completely by accident. I’m also curious about what kind of trouble she’s in, but considering how Brenda serves as the audience surrogate in learning about the immortals that have walked the Earth for centuries, I think it’s a smart move to alter her this way. That’s not to say I don’t want her to have any scientific know-how, but I like the idea of her being thrust into this world without any control. That’s likely how it would happen for the rest of us if we were in Brenda’s shoes.
Henry Cavill and Siobhán Cullen’s cast-mates on Highlander include Russell Crowe as Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, Dave Bautista as The Kurgan, Karen Gillan as Heather MacLeod (Connor’s first wife), Djimon Hounsou as Sunda Kastagir, Drew McIntyre as Angus MacLeod (Connor’s brother) and Jeremy Irons as the leader of The Watchers. John Wick’s Chad Stahleksi is directing off a screenplay written by Kerry Williamson and Michael Finch. There’s no release date for the reboot set, but I think it’s safe to say it’ll be ready to come out sometime in 2027.
