Highlander II Turns 35: The 0% Rotten Tomatoes Sequel That Got a Director’s Cut Where the Aliens Never Happened

On paper, a box office flop would be a dead end for any sequel or follow-up. But in Highlander‘s case, the first movie may have been a financial fiasco when it was released in 1986, earning only about $13 million on a $19 million budget. And yet, the movie had a second life through the booming home video market and became a cult classic, with a dedicated fanbase that loved the concept, lore, and Connor MacLeod’s (Christopher Lambert) iconic tagline, “There can be only one”, and the Queen soundtrack. All this was more than enough to move forward with a sequel, bringing back the main star along with Sean Connery and director Russell Mulcahy. The second movie – officially titled Highlander II: The Quickening (0% on Rotten Tomatoes) – was even given an upgraded budget of $22 million. But here lies the biggest problem: How to justify the existence of a sequel when the first movie ended with Connor successfully beheading the Kurgan (Clancy Brown) and drawing his power.

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