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The Deadwood movie isn’t due out until May 31st, but Ian McShane has seen a cut of it and apparently, it’s good! The show came to an abrupt close on HBO 12 years ago after three seasons. Soon after, word got out that the plan was to make two films to be broadcast on television in place of a fourth season. But clearly that never panned out, and rumblings about a potential Deadwood movie continued until production finally began in the fall of 2018.
That’s when we found out that HBO was going big and that a significant amount of the cast was returning including McShane as Al Swearengen, Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock, Molly Parker as Alma Ellsworth, Paula Malcomson as Trixie, John Hawkes as Sol Star, Anna Gunn as Martha Bullock, and more. While catching up with McShane for the release of Hellboy, our conversation veered into Deadwood territory and he revealed that he’s seen a cut of the film:
Image via HBO
“Deadwood we just finished. I saw it the other day. Tim and I had a few comments. I think it’s – yeah, it’s OK. Yeah, it’s good. Again it’s, you know, don’t expect an episodic piece. It’s difficult when you’ve gotta make a two hour movie of an episodic TV. But I think they got the setting right, they got the links right, and they got everybody back which is really great, ’cause they could have made you know, ‘Seth and Al ride the high country together!’ That wouldn’t have been Deadwood. That would just be me and Tim sort of catching it … this is [David] Milch Deadwood circa 10 years later. Statehood difficulty, characters have moved on; they’re a little changed which is great.”
You can catch McShane sharing his answer in the video clip at the top of this article. Be sure to keep an eye out for my full conversation with McShane coming to Collider soon! You can also catch McShane in Hellboy when it hits theaters nationwide on April 12th.
Here’s the official synopsis for Deadwood:
In the “Deadwood” film, the indelible characters of the series are reunited after ten years to celebrate South Dakota’s statehood. Former rivalries are reignited, alliances are tested and old wounds are reopened, as all are left to navigate the inevitable changes that modernity and time have wrought.