Nicolas Cage Is Going To Be A Vodka-Drinking Dragon

Nicolas Cage finally gets the role he was born to play: an ancient, vodka-swilling dragon living in a Louisiana shack.

By Douglas Helm | Published

Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage is signed on for his next project and it seems like he was pretty much made for it. Cage will be voicing a vodka-drinking dragon in Highfire, a TV series based on the novel by Eoin Colfer. The series is reportedly in the works at Paramount+ and is being adapted by Davey Holmes. While there isn’t a release date for the project, this is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Highfire combines fantasy with a gritty crime thriller, following Lord Highfire (Nicolas Cage) many years after dragons ruled the Earth. Now Lord Highfire is content to live in his shack in the Louisiana bayou, watching TV and drinking copious amounts of vodka. His undercover life is abruptly interrupted when a human named Squib runs into some trouble with booze-running for the local mob.  Hopefully, this project will turn out better than the last time one of Eoin Colfer’s novels was adapted. Colfer is primarily known for the Artemis Fowl series, which was adapted by Disney in 2020 to near-universal disgust. The movie currently holds a measly 8% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a marginally better 19% from audiences. At the very least, Nicolas Cage voicing a drunk dragon is something that will make Highfire something that will be hard to miss out on.

Nicolas Cage is fresh from one of the more interesting roles of his career, playing himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. The off-kilter comedy was beloved by audiences and critics alike, as Cage deals with a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal) and a CIA agent (Tiffany Haddish). We’re in a bit of a Cage renaissance right now, as his more dramatic turn in Pig was also met with universal praise. Hopefully, Cage can keep this momentum going with all of his upcoming projects.

While we might have to wait a little while for Highfire, we should be getting at least one more Nicolas Cage project before the end of 2022. Cage is set to star in The Old Way, which sees an old gunslinger and his daughter teaming up to face the consequences of the gunslinger’s past when the son of a man he murdered seeks vengeance. The Old Way is directed by Brett Donowho and written by Carl W. Lucas. Cage stars alongside Clint Howard, Nick Searcy, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, and more.

While it’ll be great to see Nicolas Cage in a revenge western, one of his more exciting upcoming projects sees Cage embracing his wacky side again in Renfield, which tells the story of Dracula’s henchman in an insane asylum. Cage, of course, plays Dracula and Nicholas Hoult plays the titular Renfield. Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, and Shohreh Aghdashloo also star. Chris McKay directs with a script by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley. Renfield and his other Western, Butcher’s Crossing, won’t be hitting screens until 2023. Until then, stay tuned to find out more about Cage’s vodka-swilling dragon series for Paramount+. You can also check out his delightful Reddit AMA if you’re looking for more of the Cage charm.