Trying to make sense of a long-dormant fantasy franchise’s nonsensical timeline can’t stop causing conniptions

It’s a general rule of thumb that any fantasy franchise spanning decades and countless iterations is going to tie itself in canonical knots to the point of nonsense, but there are few more convoluted than Highlander, which is ironic when the whole property revolves around there only being one.

Since kicking off with the stone-cold cult classic sword-swinging slice of cheese back in 1986, the expanded universe has swelled to gargantuan proportions. Even if we don’t include the long-gestating reboot being shepherded by John Wick director Chad Stahelski and star Henry Cavill, then calling Highlander complex to the point of impenetrable would be an understatement.

You don’t have to accept the three theatrical sequels, made-for-TV movie The Source, either of the live-action shows, the animated series, the feature-length anime, or the novels, comic books, and associated tie-in media as official canon, but trying to separate it all into one distinct and solidified timeline is proving a step too far for a band of Redditors who dared to try and establish some kind of narrative throughline.

The easiest option is to simply ignore the noise and enjoy Highlander at your leisure, but given how deeply invested fans can become in any long-running IP that spits out new content on a semi-regular basis, that was never going to happen. Maybe the reinvigoration that’s been lodged in development hell for over a decade will be a hard reset, or perhaps it’ll only serve to muddy the waters even further, but we need it to actually exist before that conversation can happen.