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Ryan Reynolds Wanted for ‘Highlander’ Reboot

If there can only be one, then Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate want Ryan Reynolds. The Green Lantern and Safe House star is the studios' first choice to lead its reboot of Highlander, the 1986 action/fantasy film that spawned numerous sequels and a six-season television series.

Summit (now a Lionsgate company), which purchased the rights to the cult series in 2008, had initially begun to develop the reboot with Justin Lin at the helm. Lin left to continue working on the "Fast and Furious" franchise (though he will remain an executive producer), and back in September, Summit hired 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to replace him. Fresnadillo had previously been attached to a remake of The Crow as well as a Bioshock film, both of which fell through.


Reynolds' possible involvement is the only word on casting for the new Highlander to date. Variety says there's no word of whether the star has actually been made an offer, but he has been talking with Lionsgate-Summit and is weighing the role along with other offers.

Casting someone of Reynolds' caliber suggests Lionsgate and Summit want to make the series accessible to a wider audience, certainly at risk of stirring up the franchise's devoted fans.

The original film starred Christopher Lambert, Clancy Brown and Sean Connery in a tale of sword-wielding immortals battling each other for supremacy in modern-day New York City. Details on the reboot are scarce, and unless casting picks up sufficiently this summer, expect not to see it until 2014.

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