Wait, Does Henry Cavill's Highlander Leg Injury Social Media Post Hide… 3 Separate Warhammer 40,000 Amazon TV Show Easter Eggs?

Henry Cavill’s seemingly innocuous representation showing his limb wounded sustained portion grooming for the Highlander reboot has sent Warhammer 40,000 fans into a frenzy aft speculation the erstwhile Superman actor's societal media station contains three(!) abstracted nods to his upcoming — and ace concealed — Amazon project.

Henry Cavill’s Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe, the effect of a woody struck betwixt Games Workshop and Amazon for Prime Video movies and TV shows based connected the celebrated grimdark setting, is shrouded successful mystery. While it’s hugely breathtaking for fans, particularly fixed Cavill’s well-documented emotion of Warhammer 40,000, we bash not cognize which quality helium is acceptable to play, oregon adjacent which communicative the archetypal task volition tell. We don’t adjacent cognize which epoch of Warhammer, specifically, we tin expect to spot successful unrecorded enactment form.

Cavill has chosen his words cautiously whenever he’s asked astir Warhammer 40,000 successful interviews. In June, Cavill touched connected the “complexity” and “trickiness” of adapting the Warhammer 40,000 IP. But, helium insisted, helium was loving the challenge.

Bringing Warhammer to beingness "is a imagination travel true," Cavill said, "but it's antithetic from what I've done before, successful the consciousness I haven't had my manus connected the tiller of things before. It's fantastic doing that. It is simply a tricky IP, and a precise analyzable IP, and that's what I emotion astir it. The challenges that travel with putting this connected the leafage successful a mode that is doing justness to that complexity, that trickiness, and that nuance, is simply a situation I'm enjoying enormously."

But could Cavill's societal media station hint astatine what to expect from his Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe? Some fans deliberation so.

The astir evident tease present is successful the 2nd picture, which shows books for the Horus Heresy tabletop crippled strewn astir connected Cavill’s table. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civilian warfare that took spot 10,000 years earlier the existent Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the instauration of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals however the carrion Emperor ended up connected the Golden Throne.

If this photograph is so a tease for an adaptation of the Horus Heresy, it would beryllium a important undertaking for Amazon. The galaxy-spanning warfare was epic successful scale, progressive planet-cracking battles, tremendous ace soldiers, and each sorts of mind-bending abstraction magic. Delivering the Horus Heresy arsenic a TV show, portion exciting, would beryllium a hugely costly proposition if done astatine the standard suggested by the Black Library books. We’re talking The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power accumulation values here, possibly adjacent greater.

But the Horus Heresy isn’t the lone tease successful Cavill’s photo. Squint astatine the archetypal picture, the 1 with Cavill’s rugged look and his dog, and you’ll spot successful the background, conscionable supra his head, the Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan container acceptable sat connected a shelf.

This is the existent mounting for Warhammer 40,000, which revolves astir the Ultramarines section of Space Marines defending the Imperium against the terrifying Tyranid threat. It besides conscionable happens to beryllium the premise of the hugely palmy Space Marine 2, which launched to monolithic income this clip past year.

Could this beryllium a amusive Cavill tease for his Amazon show? Perhaps it is acceptable to accommodate The First Tyrannic War, during which the Imperium makes archetypal interaction with the Tyranid contention and each hellhole breaks loose?

But there’s more! Cavill posted his pics alongside a poem, Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Invictus, you say? Well, he’s lone 1 of the astir celebrated Ultramarines determination ever was, and a leader successful the warfare against the... Tyranids.

Indeed, Saul Invictus (now deceased successful the authoritative timeline) was the Captain of the Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter's elite 1st Company. He was killed defending his section homeworld of Macragge by the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth during the First Tyrannic War.

Let’s spell implicit that past portion of the poem:

It matters not however strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I americium the maestro of my fate,
I americium the skipper of my soul.

Is Cavill acceptable to play Captain Invictus successful an adaptation of the First Tyrannic War? Some Warhammer 40,000 fans deliberation so, simply owed to the poem lining up with the Leviathan container set.

Of course, each the Warhammer bits and bobs successful Cavill’s pictures whitethorn conscionable beryllium guiltless model dressing and mean perfectly nothing. And it's worthy noting 1 quality who’s often mentioned by fans arsenic a large acceptable for Cavill — Eisenhorn, from Black Library writer Dan Abnett’s saga of the aforesaid sanction — is not teased here. At least, not that we tin see. An adaptation of Abnett’s much-loved Eisenhorn bid would possibly beryllium a much realistic proposition for Amazon, not slightest due to the fact that its main characters (Gregor Eisenhorn and Gideon Ravenor) are quality inquisitors, not hulking Space Marines, and their communicative is much grounded.

In July, Games Workshop said successful a fiscal study that fans shouldn’t expect immoderate important quality connected the Amazon enactment immoderate clip soon — and that it would beryllium “several years” earlier thing comes of it.

“On 10 December 2024 we announced the conclusions of our negotiations with Amazon for the adaptation of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 beingness into films and tv series, unneurotic with associated merchandising rights,” Games Workshop said.

“The task continues successful enactment with our contractual statement with Amazon. This aforesaid declaration prohibits america from sharing immoderate circumstantial details oregon commercialized terms.

"We person large partners who proceed to show their committedness to contiguous Warhammer authentically and astatine the scope and standard befitting our fantastical setting. This is simply a semipermanent concern with Amazon and determination won’t beryllium immoderate important quality successful the abbreviated word — these things instrumentality respective years to bring to market.”

So we’re near with scraps to mull over, specified arsenic caller comments from Dan Abnett astir NDAs and upcoming books.

In the meantime, Games Workshop pointed to the well-received Warhammer 40,000 occurrence connected Amazon Prime’s animation amusement Secret Level, which it described arsenic “a taster of Warhammer IP successful integer signifier connected the tiny screen.”

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].