Rumours of his involvement have been circulating for a few weeks, but now it’s official – Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern, Safe House) has joined the cast of Lionsgate’s Highlander reboot and will star in the lead role as the immortal Connor MacLeod, a part originally portrayed by Christopher Lambert in director Russell Mulachy’s 1986 cult classic.

The Highlander reboot has been penned by Matt Holloway & Art Marcum (Iron Man, Punisher: War Zone) with rewrites from Melissa Rosenberg (The Twilight Saga, Dexter) and was originally earmarked for director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Fast Five), who subsequently dropped out of the film last August due to other commitments.

Reynolds is the first name to be attached to the cast, while both Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, X-Men: The Last Stand) and Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone, Thor) have previously been linked to succeed Clancy Brown as The Kurgan. There’s no word yet as to who might follow Sean Connery as MacLeod’s mentor, Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez.

Highlander hit cinemas in 1986 and sadly failed to heed its own tagline of “There Can Be Only One”, spawning the abysmal sequels Highlander II: The Quickening, Highlander: The Final Dimension and Highlander: EndGame, as well as the live-action TV show Highlander: The Series, which featured Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod. The series also received its own spin-off, Highlander: The Raven, in addition to the TV movie Highlander: The Source, while the franchise has also expanded to include various animated projects, novels and comic book tie-ins.