“Deadwood” is dead no more, according to series alum Robin Weigert.
The “Dietland” actress — who played Calamity Jane on David Milch’s cult classic HBO western series– said that the reunion movie you’ve been clamoring for is finally within sight.
“It’s safe enough to say it’s happening this fall,” Weigert told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Friday. “There’s a set being built and tax incentives to get it done. A lot of [actors] have signed on. There’s a 90% chance it’ll finally happen.”
“Deadwood” aired on HBO for three seasons from 2004-2006. The series focused on the colorful characters that inhabited the unincorporated frontier town of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the 1870s, and starred Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, Molly Parker and many others.
It was canceled due to a dispute between studio Paramount Television and HBO, with the network and series creator/showrunner Milch agreeing to wrap things up with two two-hour TV movies as a finale. And though rumors have continued for years, nothing concrete has ever been nailed down on that front.
In 2016, then-HBO-programming president Michael Lombardo told reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, series creator Milch was working on the script.
“David has our commitment that we are going to do it,” Lombardo told TVLine. “He pitched what he thought generally the storyline would be — and knowing David, that could change. But it’s going to happen.”
And two years later, the wheels finally seem to be in motion on that wagon, as the California Film Commission announced in April a “Deadwood” reunion movie was among nine upcoming films have received tax credits to shoot in the Golden State as part of California’s expanded Film & TV Tax Credit Program.
HBO had nothing to add about a potential “Deadwood” movie when reached by TheWrap about the Times story and a representative for Milch did not immediately respond to request for comment.