Russell Crowe Says Highlander Will Let Him Play Ramirez as Truly Spanish

Russell Crowe has finally found a project that lets him chase the accent he once pitched and was famously denied. In a new conversation about the upcoming Highlander remake, the Oscar winner says he’ll portray Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez as an actual Spaniard – accent and all – a creative choice director Ridley Scott vetoed when Crowe first floated it for Maximus in Gladiator. Where Scott barked a hard no back then, Highlander director Chad Stahelski has effectively said, bring it on.

The accent debate that never dies

Part of the charm – and enduring oddity – of the 1986 Highlander is Sean Connery’s Ramirez: a character introduced as a Spanish swordsman with a backstory that hopscotches through Egypt, yet delivered with Connery’s undiluted Scottish brogue.

It’s the sort of glorious contradiction cinephiles still smile about. Connery maintained that same unmistakable sound whether he was steering a submarine in The Hunt for Red October, walking a Chicago beat in The Untouchables, or stirring revolt in The Wind and the Lion. The accent never asked your permission; it simply was.

What Ridley Scott wouldn’t allow

During early Gladiator rehearsals, Crowe argued that because Maximus is a Spaniard, a Iberian flavor to the voice would be logical – something like an Antonio Banderas timbre with cleaner elocution. Scott’s response was brisk and absolute: no. The compromise, Crowe has joked, became a kind of “Royal Shakespeare Company after two pints” delivery – a heroic register that nodded to antiquity without pushing audiences into phonetic whiplash.

Stahelski’s greenlight: “Bring me Spanish”

Times change. For Highlander, Crowe says Stahelski told him plainly: if you show up with Spanish, we’ll use Spanish. That opens the door to a Ramirez who actually sounds like his name suggests. It’s not just an accent tweak; it reframes a fan-favorite immortal with a more coherent cultural identity while keeping the character’s swagger intact. If Crowe nails it, Ramirez could feel both freshly grounded and mythic – the kind of tonal update that respects the original’s electricity without repeating its quirks beat-for-beat.

Production realities and a loaded cast

The swordplay will wait a little longer. Production has been pushed to 2026 as lead star Henry Cavill heals from a training injury, but when cameras roll the ensemble will be muscular: Crowe and Cavill back in the same orbit after Man of Steel, alongside Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Marisa Abela, Djimon Hounsou, Max Zhang, and Scottish WWE standout Drew McIntyre. It’s an intriguingly physical lineup for a world that lives and dies by steel, stamina, and centuries-old grudges.

Fans, feelings, and the Connery factor

Among longtime viewers, emotion runs in several directions. Some argue Connery’s improbable brogue is part of the franchise’s DNA – a cinematic loophole you grin at rather than “fix.” Others are eager to see the character sound authentically Spanish for once, while a slice of the audience jokes they can already hear “Are you not entertained?” in an Antonio Banderas register. There are practical worries too: one camp remembers a wobbly Russian accent in a recent Crowe performance and wonders if this new attempt might wobble again; another frets that Ramirez should cut a leaner silhouette and hopes Crowe arrives in fighting form. And hovering over it all is the modern temptation to resurrect legends with AI. Some fans would rather see Connery’s likeness conjured by code than see Ramirez recast – a notion that’s as ethically thorny as it is technically plausible.

Can a cult immortal go blockbuster?

Highlander has always thrived more on cult devotion than on cold box office spreadsheets. That’s both a warning and an opportunity. The mythology – rule-bound immortals, honor codes, the fatal intimacy of a duel where “there can be only one” – is tailor-made for today’s serialized world-building. Get the tone right, and a once-niche saga could sharpen into a mainstream contender. Fans are already speculating about casting dynamics (is Karen Gillan a past-life love? a mentor? something stranger?) and dreaming up transmedia possibilities, including the video game adaptation the brand somehow never cashed in on.

The bottom line: letting Crowe deliver Ramirez with a true Spanish voice is a small decision with outsized ripple effects. It signals fidelity to character over nostalgia for anachronisms, without shutting the door on what made Connery’s turn unforgettable. If Stahelski balances authenticity with the operatic sweep this myth demands – and if Cavill’s return to full strength aligns with a cohesive script – the new Highlander could feel both freshly forged and properly ancient. Accent first, heads later: the right sound may set the tone for everything that follows.