Please, ‘Highlander’ Reboot, Don’t Waste Djimon Hounsou

The upcoming Highlander movie continues to build out its cast: after recently nabbing Karen Gillan and Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame, we’ve got another Marvel alum in Djimon Hounsou.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, Hounsou will play an immortal African warrior and presumably cross paths with either Henry Cavill’s Connor MacLeod or Bautista’s villainous Kurgen. We really don’t know much about this movie, save for director Chad Stahelski’s aim to expand upon the mythology from the previous films, which, great, whatever. That’s all well and good; I just don’t want this to be yet another movie that doesn’t entirely know what to do with Hounsou.

There are a lot of Hollywood actors the industry doesn’t entirely know what to do with, and Hounsou’s arguably somewhere high on the list. The two-time Oscar nominee has had several thankless roles over the past decade—here’s looking at you, A Quiet Place Part II—and even movies that try to give him more to work with, like the second Rebel Moon, miss the mark just because they’ve got so much going on. The good news is Hounsou’s pretty busy the next few years: beyond Highlander, which is due in 2026, he’s also starring in next year’s survival thriller Shiver and the upcoming The Monster and The Zealot. Hopefully at least one of those starts some kind of Hounsou comeback.

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