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Quick Answer: Highlander’s producers liked casting musicians to see what they could bring to the table. From seasoned actors to relative newbies, the people they brought to the series created unique characters for one of the iconic television series of the ‘90s.

Highlander: The Series (1992) defined the careers of Adrian Paul and Stan Kirsch, aligning them with characters that would become their legacies. The series provided early on-screen appearances for the likes of now-mega actors Jason Isaacs, Laurie Holden, Alexis Denisof, Ron Perlman, and Marion Cotillard, as well as guest roles for everyone from former Miss America Elizabeth Gracen to wrestler Roddy Piper. But perhaps its most unique casting quality was the number of prominent musicians who turned up for work. From single-episode parts performed with questionable acting skills to recurring, regular characters with believable arcs and conviction, Highlander gave a number of well-known musicians a run behind the camera. For some, it was one of only a few times they would be hired as actors. For others, it launched successful side careers on the screen.

Jim Byrnes on Highlander as Joe Dawson

Jim Byrnes is one of the latter. A Canadian blues musician, Byrnes has had a successful career in the music industry for nearly four decades, and a television career of almost equal length. Now working primarily as a voice actor, Byrnes got his start on the CBS crime drama Wiseguy (1987), but it is his role as Joe Dawson on Highlander for which he is most known. Dawson was introduced in the series’ second season as the Watcher of Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) and, conveniently enough, owner of a blues club. Watchers are a secret society of people who know about the existence of immortals, who monitor them and record their histories. Against Watcher code, Joe and Duncan become friends, and Joe’s character survives the series and carries on through subsequent Highlander films.

After being struck by a car in 1972, Byrnes lost both of his legs. He is mobile through the use of prosthetics and a cane. Instead of it becoming a hindrance, he incorporates his unique physical handicap into both his acting and music.

Roger Daltrey as Hugh Fitzcairn

One of Duncan’s closest friends and fellow immortals, Fitzcairn, is played by Roger Daltrey of The Who. An eccentric and animated 800 year-old bon vivant, Fitzcairn brings the series a sense of adventurous levity that contrasts some of the show’s tonally darker episodes. In commentary on the Highlander DVD, series producer Bill Panzer says FItzcairn was designed as a one-episode character, but Daltrey was such a delight they designed him a recurring role.

Of course, acting was nothing new to Daltrey by the time Highlander came along. The Who’s trippy rock opera Tommy came out in 1975, nearly two decades before Fitzcairn’s introduction. Daltrey had also been commended for his role as Macheath in a 1983 BBC production of The Beggar’s Opera. He hasn’t done much acting in the past 15 years beyond occasional television guest spots, but his character on Highlander survives as a fan favorite thanks to Daltrey’s humorous, emotional, and convincing performance.

Roland Gift as Xavier St. Cloud

Not all of Highlander’s musicians were friends of Duncan MacLeod. One of the series’ favorite recurring villains, Xavier St. Cloud, is commanded by Roland Gift, frontman of Fine Young Cannibals. An especially dangerous nemesis, Xavier St. Cloud is one of very few immortals who breaks the code of combat for personal gain, rendering him an unpredictable and devious threat. Gift’s performance is a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it job, but his unique physical appearance and facial structure lends itself to some authentically villainous looks. The producers and fans liked St. Cloud enough to bring Gift to the series for a total of five appearances.

Joan Jett as Felicia Martins

In one of her first acting roles as a fictional character, rocker Joan Jett starred in the first-season Highlander episode “Free Fall” as Felicia Martins, a duplicitous immortal who seduces Richie (Stan Kirsch) and pretends she recently became immortal in order to receive shelter and fencing lessons from Duncan. A fellow immortal whose wife and child Martins killed 100 years ago is pursuing her, and so the drama unfolds. The episode leaves Jett’s character open to future recurrence, but such exploration never came. Joan Jett didn’t do much with her acting career, appearing in cameo or as minor characters in television series and TV movies throughout the decades.

Legend (2015)), both men found regular acting work. Martin appeared as Alfred Cahill in the 1993 Highlander episode “Avenging Angel,” an immortal who awakens after being killed to believe he was resurrected as God’s avenging angel, taking it upon himself to roam the streets murdering prostitutes and criminals.

Martin Kemp went on to realize his most notable success as an actor on the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders (1985).

Sheena Easton as Annie Devlin

Six-time Grammy award nominee Sheena Easton also found work on Highlander. The singer has only a few live-action credits in her filmography, tending towards voice work throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 1993 episode “Eye For an Eye,” she portrayed Annie Devlin, who serves as one of the first challengers to Richie’s newly-discovered immortality. As another immortal who survives their episode, her character remained open to the possibility of recurrence. This never happened.

Vanity as Rebecca Lord

Lesser-known singer Vanity, frontwoman of the female trio Vanity 6 (known for the Prince-penned 1982 single “Nasty Girl”) starred as Rebecca Lord in the 1992 Highlander episode “Revenge is Sweet.” The role actually came late in Vanity’s acting career, which included only a few later credits and ended in 1997 when she retired from the entertainment industry, renounced her stage name, and turned her focus towards evangelism as a born-again Christian. This decision came on the back of years of cocaine addiction which ruined her kidneys. She now undergoes dialysis five times per day as a result and spends her time speaking at churches and religious events.

Dee Dee Bridgewater as Carolyn Lamb

As if that wasn’t enough, three-time Grammy award-winner and Tony award-winner Dee Dee Bridgewater appeared as Carolyn Lamb in “The Beast Below,” a 1993 episode of Highlander. The part utilizes her combination talents, as she portrays a renowned singer whose career is threatened by a newer, younger girl. The episode is one of only a few times Bridgewater appeared on television as a fictional character. She now serves as a United Nations Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Evidently, Highlander’s producers liked casting musicians to see what they could bring to the table. From seasoned actors to relative newbies, the people they brought to the series created unique characters for one of the iconic television series of the 1990s.