| Duncan MacLeod | |
|---|---|
| Highlander character | |
 | |
| First appearance | "The Gathering" |
| Portrayed by | Adrian Paul (Original) Jeremy Beck (Young) |
| In-universe information | |
| Born | 1592[1] |
| Immortality | 1622[1] |
| Teacher | Connor MacLeod[1] Hamza el Kahir Graham Ashe Pierre Segur Hideo Koto May-Ling Shen Otavio Consone |
Duncan MacLeod is a fictional character and the protagonist of Highlander: The Series, which ran for six seasons from 1992 to 1998. The character also starred in two spin-off films, Highlander: Endgame and Highlander: The Source.
Portrayed by British actor Adrian Paul, Duncan is born in the Scottish Highlands in 1592, a member of the Clan MacLeod, and later discovers he is an immortal, a person born with the power of the Quickening. This means he is unable to die unless he is beheaded, and he can absorb the power and knowledge of other immortals he beheads. Duncan sometimes encounters immortals who aim to gather power by hunting each other in a game where the winner will gain "the Prize", which is the collective power and knowledge of all immortals who ever lived (leading the to series' tagline: "in the end, there can be only one."). Trained in combat, survival, and sword-fighting by his elder cousin Connor (the original hero of the Highlander movie franchise) and others, Duncan travels the world in search of friendship and adventure, helping people when he can, sometimes fighting alongside or against other immortals.[2]
The series follows Duncan's adventures in the present day, while regular flashbacks reveal earlier adventures across the centuries. At the start of the series, he lives in the fictional city of Seacouver, Washington, but at other times he lives on a barge in Paris, France. This is because production regularly switched filming between Paris and Vancouver, British Columbia. The sixth and final season was filmed entirely in Paris.
Originally, Highlander: The Series was meant to follow directly from the events of the original 1986 film Highlander, which ended with Connor MacLeod becoming the last immortal in 1985. Rather than ignore the original story entirely, the series is set in a new timeline where the events of the film occurred, but Connor's final battle did not earn him The Prize because many immortals were still alive on Earth. Film actor Christopher Lambert declined to reprise Connor for the series. After he was cast, actor Adrian Paul suggested his character should be a new immortal Scottish Highlander, to avoid critical comparisons with the original film and Lambert's performance. The producers agreed and decided Adrian would play Duncan, a kinsman of Connor who was born decades after Connor realized his own immortality.