Henry Cavill Breaks Silence After Leg Injury in Training for ‘Highlander’

Henry Cavill is sharing an update on the injury he suffered while training for Highlander.

On Friday, Sept. 19, the actor, 42, shared two photos of himself on Instagram. One showed him with his dog Baggins, while another photo showed Cavill’s left leg elevated and a wrap around his ankle and foot.

Multiple outlets including Deadline reported on Thursday, Sept. 11, that the Man of Steel star sustained an unspecified injury during his training amid the film’s pre-production. 

Cavill shared the text of the poem “Invictus” by 19th century English writer William Ernest Henry in the caption to his post. “Out of the night that covers me / Black as the pit from pole to pole / I thank whatever gods may be / For my unconquerable soul,” reads the poem’s first stanza.

According to the Poetry Foundation, poet Henley had one of his legs amputated at age 12 after he received a tubercular arthritis diagnosis. Henley began writing poems, including “Invictus,” as he healed from the surgery.

Deadline did not share any specifics of Cavill’s injury when it first reported the news on Sept. 11. At the time, the outlet reported that Cavill’s injury will likely delay production on the movie until the beginning of 2026. 

Highlander is a remake of the 1986 fantasy-adventure movie that starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. Amazon MGM Studios is remaking the movie with Russell Crowe, Dave Bautista, Marisa Abela, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou and Max Zhang.

Chad Stahelski and Michael Finch, who are best known for collaborating as director and writer on Keanu Reeves’ John Wick franchise, are behind the new reboot.

Highlander‘s cult following it gained after its 1986 release saw the franchise spawn several sequels and a television series. The original movie follows Lambert’s character, Connor MacLeod, as a Scottish man in the 16th century who learns he was born immortal and must fight in a secret war that culminates in a battle in New York City in 1985, centuries later. 

Cavill teased the new Highlander at CinemaCon in 2024, promising he and his fellow filmmakers were “going deep into these characters,” Deadline reported at the time. “If you thought you’d seen me do sword work before, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Cavill said at the time, referencing his other fantasy series The Witcher.

Cavill, in 2024, starred in the films Argylle and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. He also made a brief appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine as a different version of Hugh Jackman’s iconic Wolverine. 

Aside from Highlander, Cavill has a number of projects in the works, including In the Grey, his second collaboration with director Guy Ritchie.