Dave Bautista Eyeing Highlander And Road House 2 Roles

Of all the WWE superstars who’ve traded the squared circle for the cinematic stage, Dave Bautista is one of the greats. From Guardians Of The Galaxy to Knock At The Cabin, Dune to Glass Onion, and from The Boy And The Heron to The Last Showgirl, the artist formerly known as Batista has left no genre stone unturned in his quest to master a novel craft. Now, the born-again thespian has just landed not one, but two major novel gigs: a key villain role in Chad Stahelski’s Highlander reboot, and a starring slot opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Road House 2.

Per Deadline‘s sidebar ‘The Dish’, Bautista is rapidly closing in on deals to star in both buzzy projects. In Stahelski’s long-gestating Highlander — which is set to see Henry Cavill take on the role of MacLeod alongside Russell Crowe’s mentor Ramirez and Marisa Abela’s mysterious novel swordmaster — Bautista will be playing a part he first landed way back in 2015: The Kurgan, an immortal barbarian and the movie’s main antagonist, previously played by Clancy Brown in the original 1985 sci-fi cult classic. As for Road House 2 then, the follow-up to Doug Liman’s 2024 Jake Gyllenhaal starrer, Bautista’s role is as yet unconfirmed, though there is currently a Conor McGregor-shaped bad guy slot in the rebooted franchise that needs filling as the Irish ex-UFC star’s off-screen behaviour makes an acting return unlikely to happen anytime soon.

While shooting is due to begin on Stahelski’s Highlander next month, Road House 2 is recalibrating at the moment, having lost director Guy Ritchie not long after landing him. The most recent word on the street — and in the trades — is that Heads Of State and Nobody action filmmaker Ilya Naishuller is potentially packing for a trip to Florida Keys with Gyllenhaal’s ex-MMA man Elwood Dalton. We don’t yet know when we can expect to see these two movies hit our screens, but here’s something that we do know: there can be only one… Dave Bautista!