Highlander: The Series

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Duncan MacLeod is the Highlander...

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Highlander: The Series is a fantasy/sci-fi tv series featuring Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul), as the Highlander of the title. An offshoot of the Highlander movies, Highlander: The Series centered on the life of Duncan, who is a clansman to the main character from the movies, Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) (Connor made a single appearance in the first episode to ensure series continuity, but was barely mentioned in the rest of the series). The series became a very popular cult television show, with a strong following years after production ceased in 1998.

The series shared the Queen theme song "Princes of the Universe". In addition the song "Who Wants To Live Forever?", featured prominently in the movie, was used in the series.

The pilot episode established Duncan as a simple man living quietly with his girlfriend Tessa Noel (played by Alexandra Vandernoot). He was the proprietor of an antique shop; Tessa was a sculptor. The episode introduced main character Richie Ryan (Stan Kirsch) as a thief who entered Duncan's shop intent on robbing it. The antagonist in this episode was an Immortal named Slan Quince (Richard Moll), who was being pursued by Duncan's fellow clansman Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert, reprising his role in the movies).

During the episode, it was established that Duncan had lived over four hundred years, a fact well-known to Tessa, and that there are many such Immortals in the world. Connor had come to Duncan to ask him to return to the Game and help good win over evil. (The Game is the term used by the Immortals to describe their hunting of one another, seeking Quickenings by beheading their opponents. See below for a more complete discussion of the mechanics of the Highlander: The Series universe.)

Duncan had hidden from other Immortals for some time, removing himself from the Game. However, hunted by Slan Quince, Duncan had no choice and by the end of the first episode, Slan had been defeated (by Duncan) and Duncan was clearly caught up in the Game again. The series sometimes have villain of the week moments, but mostly the storylines revolve around Duncan MacLeod and his relationship with other immortals.As the series continued, there were some changes in concept and normal growth in the characters and their relationships. Tessa was killed and Richie became an Immortal (eventually accidentally killed by Duncan), the Watchers (as well as the Hunters) were introduced and explored, and several recurring Immortal characters (i.e.: Methos (Peter Wingfield), the 'Oldest Immortal'; Hugh Fitzcairn (Roger Daltrey) and Amanda(Elizabeth Gracen, who later had her own short-lived spin-off: Highlander: The Raven) became regular guests on the show.

The story later continued in the Highlander: Endgame movie. A new movie is planned for 2006; it will be called Highlander: The Source.

The rights to the Highlander franchise fell back to Davis-Panzer Productions several years after Highlander: Endgame; when this happened Peter Davis approached Adrian Paul to star and executive produce the fifth movie. Adrian Paul had for some time wanted to come back and improve upon fourth film which he admits was not put together as well as it could have been.

Duncan regarded his mentor and lifelong friend Connor MacLeod as one of the greatest Immortals out there, and held the highest respect for him. He taught him how to live, why they live, and it was only reasonable he felt he owed him a lot. Though they didn't see each other a lot in the last years, they were very close and their friendship was as strong as it had always been for the nearly 350 years they knew each other. Their relationship was like a father and son. Duncan referenced him numerous times in the series. Connor MacLeod's influence on Duncan had been shown in the series, and is to be noted.