Let’s not beat around the bush. You could put a trash bag over British actor Henry Cavill‘s face and it’d still be a masterpiece. This 40-year-old A-Lister has proven time and time again exactly how versatile he is. When he’s not playing a Kryptonian superhero or a supernatural monster hunter, he’s playing an 18th-century private detective or the 1st Duke of Suffolk.
This jack of all trades can do no wrong, except when he’s crushing our hopes and dreams by leaving Netflix’s The Witcher (no, we’re still not over it). That whole situation was a whirlwind. First, he tells us he’s returning as Clark Kent aka Superman in the DCEU. Then he tells us he’s leaving The Witcher. Then James Gunn and Peter Safran, the co-CEOs of DC Studios, say he’s not, in fact, returning as Superman. Then Cavill softens the blow with news of a Warhammer 40K cinematic universe, of which he plans to shepherd to the screens and (hopefully) star in.
Sure, The Witcher fans were furious. Sure, people were blaming Dwayne Johnson for jumping the gun with Cavill’s premature announcement. Sure, we’ll never see Cavill don Superman’s cape again now that Gunn is going with David Corenswet as the new Man of Steel. But hey, at least we have Warhammer 40K. And that’s not all.
Despite jokes that the British actor was unemployed following his departure from The Witcher and removal from the DCU, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The actor has an ever-growing list of projects still in the pipeline, some that were only just announced and others that have been brewing for quite some time. Here is every upcoming project, confirmed and rumored, for this Hollywood hunk — ahem, we mean actor.
Argylle (Feb. 2024)
Returning to his spy thriller roots, Henry Cavill will star alongside Grammy Award-winning artist Dua Lipa in Matthew Vaughn’s espionage film Argylle. The Apple Studios production is based on the novel of the same name by Elly Conway, a first-time author who received an immediate greenlight for the book’s adaptation before the book itself was even published. The movie will follow Cavill’s character as he attempts to reconcile reality with with the amnesia he is suffering from. When we meet him, Cavill’s character is under the impression that he’s a best-selling spy novelist, but as his memories slowly return, he becomes hell-bent on getting revenge on the organization he once worked for.
The movie includes an eye-popping list of familiar actors like Ariana DeBose, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Jing Lusi, John Cena, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, and Rob Delaney. The movie premieres in theaters on Feb. 2, 2024, and Apple TV Plus shortly thereafter.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare will see Henry Cavill play the leading man alongside Baby Driver actress Eiza González. This World War II action spy movie will have Guy Ritchie at the helm, and will be produced by Top Gun: Maverick veteran, Jerry Bruckheimer. Based on true events, the movie follows U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and James Bond author Ian Fleming as they create a secret WWII combat organization whose “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques ultimately gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit.
Lionsgate bought the film in Feb. 2023 with hopes to release it sometime in 2024. This was prior to the dual writers’ and actors’ strike halting virtually all of Hollywood, so whether the film will maintain its expected release window remains to be seen.
The Rosie Project (TBD)
The Rosie Project is about as far from Cavill’s usual projects as one can get. This time, he is not fighting monsters, shooting heat vision from his eyes, or tracking down misfits with his sister. This time he’s, well, trying to get a date. The Rosie Project is a romance movie based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Graeme Simsion. In the movie, Cavill’s character, a genetics university professor named Don Tillman, creates an elaborate questionnaire to find himself the perfect woman because — suspend your belief for a second, here — he can’t seem to get a date. When he meets Rosie, a girl who does not meet any of his criteria, he must parse through this confusing turn of events and figure out what to do next.
Needless to say, imagining Cavill as a love-sick professor who can’t get a date is an acting stretch we didn’t see coming, but we’re excited nonetheless. However, when we’ll actually get to see it unfold is another question entirely. The Rosie Project is currently in pre-production and has not begun filming or been given a release date yet.
Highlander (TBD)
A remake of the 1986 classic movie of the same name, Highlander follows the (long, long) life of Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish warrior living in the present day who must battle one last brutal opponent to keep him from taking his powers and winning the Prize. Fans of the original have been skeptical that the remake would ever see the light of day, especially since it was first announced in 2008, but in August 2022 director Chad Stahelski announced the movie was finally getting close to the starting line. Then exactly one year later he assured us (again) that it was still happening, just not quite as far along as one might hope. As it stands, the movie is still very, very early stages of pre-production.
Warhammer 40K (TBD)
Fans of the popular tabletop board game Warhammer 40,000 likely never thought they’d like to see the day when Henry Cavill, let alone Hollywood, would shepherd an entire cinematic universe into existence. Yet that’s exactly what happened in Dec. 2022 when Cavill announced he signed a deal with Amazon to oversee a Warhammer 40K live-action adaptation. Now, the Warhammer Cinematic Universe is still in the very early stages of development, so we don’t have much to go on except some pretty exquisite casting decisions from yours truly. When the time comes for more Warhammer 40K news, trust us, we’ll let you know.
Squadron 42 (TBD)
Henry Cavill has never shied away from his nerdom. After the 2020 video of him building his gaming computer from scratch went viral, the self-proclaimed nerd has been vocal about his love of video games. However, there’s no guessing when his involvement in the popular Squadron 42 will come out. The video game was initially scheduled to be released in 2016, but saw repeated delays over the years and empty promises of a Beta release that never came to fruition. In 2018, Cavill addressed his connection to the project, writing on his Facebook “And answer the call I did! It was a genuine pleasure and a real privilege to be a part of this unfolding saga and to have the opportunity to play Ryan Enright. I cannot wait to get my hands on this game!”
Us too, Henry. Us too.
