40 Years Later, The Original Highlander Finally Returns In Epic First Look
Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.
The Highlander franchise is going back to its roots, as it caps off its milestone 40 years since debuting in 1986. It has been almost two decades since there was a Highlander film, and this year's anniversary came and went with not enough fanfare. That is, until now. Starting in December, fans are going to get reintroduced to Connor MacLeod, the Kurgan, and the rest of the first movie's cast as they were originally intended to be depicted.
That's right. While a cinematic reboot continues to struggle to get out of development hell, Highlander is returning with a new adaptation of Gregory Widen's original screenplay. Widen famously wrote his first draft of the story as an undergrad at UCLA and sold it for shockingly cheap, considering how it has blossomed into a multi-million dollar multimedia franchise. Like most spec scripts, what he wrote was radically revised in subsequent drafts, and during production. Now, after all this time, his original vision is finally being fully realized.
More than that, Widen has adapted his own screenplay, with art by Syzmon Kudransky. That means Highlander's original creator has taken full ownership of the story with this new version, which is being released by Titan Comics as a 4-issue series. Check out the trailer, released by Titan, below, then strap in and get ready for a very different Highlander, and a very different Connor MacLeod.
Highlander Creator Gregory Widen Is Adapting His Original Screenplay For Highlander's New Era
Highlander has one of the richest lores of any modern original IP franchise. In addition to five live-action movies, and an animated film, there have been three TV shows, two web series, and a slate of supplemental material like novels, comics, and more. Now, Highlander: The Original Screenplay is effectively opening up a new continuity for the franchise, which could be just as prolific.
Or, at the very least, it will be fascinating for what could have been Highlander to finally be produced. The trailer promises the "uncut," raw vision that Gregory Widen initially had for the story. Widen's draft of Highlander has been available online to read for years, and its differences from the final cut of the film have been poured over extensively. The question is, now, what changes might the author have made in adapting his own early, primitive work 40 years later?
Highlander Celebrates Its 40-Year Pop Culture Legacy With The Ultimate Full Circle Moment
In Gregory Widen's original Highlander script, Connor MacLeod was born in the 15th century. The movie bumped this up to the 16th, and from the trailer for Highlander: The Original Screenplay, it looks like Widen has adopted the movie chronology. What other influence the movie might have had on this project, from its story to its iconography, will be things eager Highlander will go into reading this new series looking for.
As they should. Highlander: The Original Screenplay is a fascinating full-circle moment for the franchise. Widen's screenplay gave birth to this enduring saga, and now his adaptation of his own screenplay is part of its wider legacy. There isn't a better way to commemorate Highlander's 40th anniversary, and to hold fans over until the next on-screen chapter in the series finally arrives.
Highlander: The Original Screenplay #1 drops December 16, 2026 from Titan Comics.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.