Back in January, HBO finally confirmed that rumors of a Deadwood movie are true, with series creator and executive producer David Milch being given the green light to start working on this long-awaited reunion. No plot details have surfaced at this time, and we haven’t had any additional updates since January, but original Deadwood star Ian McShane thinks that the network should move quickly with this project, because he and the rest of his cast may not be available if the development process drags out. Here’s what he had to say during a new interview with Chris Hardwick.
“There’s talk about it now, them writing a script. But I’ll believe it when I’m on the street in my muddy boots…Now would seem a perfect time, it’s ten years since they elbowed it. It’s perfect time. Tim’s got a huge following from the show he did, Justified. All the other people are free, none of us will be free for much longer.”
Ian McShane recently appeared on Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast, where he offered this update, although it seems that he doesn’t know any more than we do about the status of this Deadwood revival. The movie from David Milch is believed to give the show a definitive ending that fans have been waiting years for, after HBO unceremoniously canceled the show after three seasons. Here’s what Ian McShane had to say during his appearance on the Nerdist podcast.
“Yeah, it’s all based on real stuff, but Milch took his liberties with it. I don’t think the real Swearingen was half as interesting as Milch wrote him to be. That’s what Milch does. Milch’s genius is he didn’t have me come down the stairs every week, kill someone and make a long speech, which he would if it was normal TV. What he did was he built every guy and every woman on the show, who had their own personality. It was the story of the town, and how the town grew, and how Swearingen learned to live with Bullock and how Bullock learned to live with him. You take your side of the street, and I’ll take my side of the street. Then when Hearst came in, they both realized that was real power. How do you deal with real power? You shut your f—ing mouth until something happens. That’s why you didn’t have any big face-offs with Swearingen and Hearst, because Swearingen knew it was ridiculous.”
The ensemble cast for Deadwood included Timothy Olyphant, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif, W. Earl Brown, John Hawkes, Paula Malcomson, Dayton Callie, Leon Rippy, William Sanderson, Jim Beaver, Robin Weigert, Sean Bridgers, Kim Dickens, Titus Welliver, Powers Boothe and Anna Gunn. We reported earlier this year that Ralph Richeson, who played Deadwood cook Richardson, passed away at the age of 63, due to heart failure. Hopefully we’ll get more details about this long-awaited Deadwood movie soon.