Book Review - The Art & Making of Highlander

September 3rd 2026

The story of Connor MacLeod and the immortals celebrated a big anniversary this year, as it has been 40 years since the release of the fantasy classic Highlander. Fans can now add The Art & Making of Highlander book to their shelf to mark the occasion and look back through time at how the movie was made.

The book was released on September 1st, 2026 by Titan Books to take readers behind-the-scenes of the movie. A copy has kindly been sent to me by the publisher, so I’ve been able to dive in and give my thoughts on this dive into the past.

Build Quality

The Art & Making of Highlander comes as an oversized hardcover at 26cm x 33cm, a little larger than most books in the genre. It comes with 192 gloss pages that share the content with a great print finish to give the images a worthy showcase. The binding is good too, it’s flexible enough to allow all of the pages to lay flat without any bounce back.

I did notice that the cover image is off in regards to the colour though, with the print not looking like the image found in listings. There seems to be a colour balance issue, as MacLeod’s jacket is green and his skin is saturated and yellow. This of course doesn’t take away from the content found inside, but when I looked into this it seems others had spotted it too, so it’s worth pointing out as it is not an isolated issue.

Content

Inside is an exploration of the original ideas for Highlander and the history of its production, all alongside photography and artwork. This is a fantastic breakdown of the movie’s beginnings as ‘Shadow Clan’, to getting the cast together and diving into the production on set.

To start with the visuals included, this is by far much more of a ‘Making of’ book than an ‘Art of’ book. While there is some very nice art inside, it’s heavily dominated by set photography and movie stills. There are concepts for a couple of locations and some costumes, as well as a nice look at the storyboards for the Quickening and posters, but this is a production focused volume for the most part. The art for Kurgan’s costume and MacLeod’s forge is really nice to see and are highlights, so I do wish there was more featured throughout.

Some of the photos are very high-quality, which is impressive given that they are over 40 years old now. Even those that are movie stills and at a lower resolution look great and benefit from the print finish on the page. I personally like seeing the larger productions, such as the 1536 battle in Scotland, because it shows the number of extras and costumes used to film the scenes. It’s always nice to see the practical work that used to go into making older films, as well as highlighting the excellent depictions that Highlander had of each time period.

There is a good amount to read that gives in-depth details about how Highlander came to be, including Gregory Widen’s early ideas for the story, finding music video director Russell Mulcahy, the casting, and the challenges and stories of the filming itself. Author Jonathon Melville does a wonderful job at sharing the history and the interviews done with the creatives themselves, in which there are a huge number filled with rich details. The chapters follow the order of the movie’s scenes, which is a nice approach as it mixes up the time periods and visuals, jumping back and forth as seen on-screen.

A highlight of The Art & Making of Highlander is that it includes interviews and photos for multiple deleted scenes, such as a fight between Kurgan and another immortal called Yung Dol Kim set in 1985. I like that includes more than just a mention of these scenes, with some even having a couple of spreads. The photos that show them really help to make this a more comprehensive look at everything involved during the shoots, not just the final result.

There are a lot of fun mentions throughout that fans will enjoy, with the story of how some of the extras were drunk during the Scotland battle, resulting in injuries, being one that stood out to me. There are many of these Easter eggs told by Widen, Mulchay, and more in the interviews, all of which make this an ideal book to spend time with after the credits roll on the film.

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As well as detailing the filming of Highlander, there are also sections that focus on working with Queen for the music, the work of composer Michael Kamen on the score, and a look at the ongoing legacy of Highlander to end the book. “There can be only one” may not have been the case due to sequels and series, as well as the new remake coming soon with Henry Cavill, but this look back at creation of the original will be much appreciated by fans and movie buffs.

The Art & Making of Highlander may be light on the art front and somewhat misleading with its title as a result, but the rest of what is presents makes this the perfect companion to the movie that shares the highs and lows of creating an epic story that takes place across centuries.

Credits

The images inside come with notes on who the copyright owner is, with many having small descriptions too. I like that each image is labelled, but in the case of the artwork, not making it clear that the copyright owner is the artist themselves is odd. This is information that can be assumed, however, I do think ‘artist and owner’ would have made it clearer.

Use of Space

Inside the designers have filled up all of the space and made the layout clear and readable. It’s a brilliant job all-round, with some spreads of just photos or a single image used here and there to mix things up. The binding comes into play for the double page spreads too, because it removes image loss in the centre fold, which any artbook fan knows can ruin a good picture. I really like what they did here as it makes the most of the 192 pages found in The Art & Making of Highlander.

Value

The book has an RRP of $50 in the US and £39.99 in the UK, the standard pricing for an ‘Art & Making of’ book in 2026, with the pricing in the UK being fairer after exchange rates than what other publishers offer. Bearing in mind this is much more of a ‘Making of’ release before jumping in, I think that those wanting to celebrate the long life of the characters and movie will get a lot out of the book at this price point.

Using Amazon as always for consistency, there is currently a discount on the book in the UK at 25% off, bringing the book down to £29.95. This is a very appealing price to film nerds that gives it a very strong value for money. Nothing in the US yet, who are often slower to get deals, but they do come and go for bargain hunters out there and it is only the week of release at the time of writing this.

Verdict

The story of Connor MacLeod gets immortalised further in The Art & Making of Highlander, sharing stories, details, and photography that fans will enjoy diving into. I really liked seeing the work that went into creating the classic from the creatives and cast, and felt that this is worthy celebration of the 40th anniversary.

The excellent artwork it does include did leave me wanting for more though, as the title and cover artwork gave me expectations that were not met, but as a ‘Making of’ book, it’s likely to be timeless for those that love Highlander.

If you enjoyed the review and would like to order a copy, you can do so here;

Buy Here/ Buy Here (UK)

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Tags; #TitanBooks #Highlander