Ever since Deadwood went off the air in August 2006 after three acclaimed and now almost legendary seasons, there has been talk about doing a movie to wrap up the story and give both fans and characters closure. At long last, it appears that those talks will finally bear fruit!
At the Summer TCAs, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said the words that Deadwood fans had been longing to hear, “I can finally-finally confirm we are greenlit on Deadwood movie … it will shoot in October.” Indeed, the film has been in production.
Deadwood movie photos
The first official images from the Deadwood movie have arrived, courtesy of EW. The duo of photos update the status of the show’s characters after over a decade. We see Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen at his Gem Theater bar, likely plotting his next monstrous machinations. Additionally, we have a photo of Timothy Olyphant’s Seth Bullock, looking dapper in his duster, standing outside his new workplace, a U.S. Marshal office.
Now regarded as one of the greatest modern TV dramas of all time, Deadwood came along just before the real explosion of top-shelf scripted television and the massively accelerated growth of online fan communities, which might have helped keep the show going or get a movie to the screen quicker.
2 years after it was initially teased, a Deadwood movie script by creator/showrunner David Milch will see the light of day. As Bloys, confirms, “I wanted a script that would stand on its own … I’m happy to say that David totally delivered on that. It’s a terrific script.”
Additionally, Daniel Minahan occupied the director’s chair for the movie. No stranger to the premium cabler, Minahan helmed four episodes of the Deadwood series, along with episodes of other HBO shows, Game Of Thrones, The Newsroom, Six Feet Under, Big Love and True Blood.
Deadwood movie release date
The Deadwood movie is set to arrive on HBO sometime in 2019. The specific release date is not yet known.
Deadwood movie cast
The dream project was no easy feat to achieve. As Bloys explained in the July announcement, “All of these people worked hard to get this together.” Adding, “It’s been a logistics nightmare getting all the cast members’ schedules together but we are there. It is greenlit.”
Indeed, as production prepared to commence, the task at hand involved locking down the schedules of the returning cast members; a logistical nightmare of a task that represented the greatest obstacle to the project.
Thankfully, the Deadwood movie will serve as a major reunion, with stars Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane joined by returning faces such as Brad Dourif, Molly Parker, Anna Gunn Kim Dickens, Paula Malcomson, Sean Bridgers, Robin Weigert, Gerald McRaney, W. Earl Brown, Jeffrey Jones, William Sanderson and John Hawkes.
Additionally, the movie will feature a notable franchise newcomer in Tony Curran, who, on November 29th, revealed that he’d already wrapped his mystery role.
It’s quite impressive that HBO was able to wrangle what can be considered a reunion in more ways than one, since the movie’s events will be set against the backdrop of a celebration for the statehood of South Dakota (which historically occurred on November 2, 1889,) that brings the show’s characters back together after about a decade apart.
We will most definitely keep you updated here on the Deadwood movie developments as they occur!