Well, knock me over with a **** hair, Deadwood is actually coming back, ****suckers.
The return of the swearingest show in TV history has long been discussed, with HBO simmering a movie for years now, but it's hard to believe it's actually happening. Deadline reports filming has now begun, with the bulk of the original cast returning to roles they last played in 2006.
Returning characters include bar owner and local power broker Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), lawman Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), gold mine owner Alma Ellsworth (Molly Parker), prostitute Trixie (Paula Malcolmson), hardware store owner Sol Star (John Hawkes), Martha Bullock (Anna Gunn), Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie), Doc Cochran (Brad Dourif), Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert), E.B. Farnum (William Sanderson) and Joanie Stubbs (Kim Dickens). The Deadwood movie will also introduce a new cast member, Caroline, played by Jade Pettyjohn.
The Deadwood movie takes place ten years after the conclusion of the series, or about 1889. According to HBO, the characters reunite to celebrate South Dakota's statehood. But while little is known about the plot, one of the more surprising reveals is the return of Season 3 villain George Hearst (Gerald McRaney).
The father of newspaperman William Randolph Hearst (who famously tried to prevent Citizen Kane from screening), George arrives in Deadwood in Season 2 of the series and promptly begins buying up the town and creating havoc. He's driven out of Deadwood at the end of Season 3, but it's not much of a victory: he stills own the largest gold claim in Deadwood.
While Deadwood always hewed loosely to historical events, the decade leading up to 1889 offer some hints of what the town might be facing in the Deadwood movie. Shortly after the events of the series, the real Deadwood was devastated by a terrible fire. The town rebuilt in the 1880s hardly resembled the old frontier town. It even had electric street lights, beginning in 1883. The year before the Deadwood movie is set, a railroad permanently connected the frontier town with the rest of the nation.
Hearst grew more powerful as well. The Deadwood movie will take place during his tenure as the United States Senator from California, suggesting he'll have both financial and political power to wield against the citizens he grew to hate so much.
The Deadwood movie was written by series creator David Milch and will be directed by veteran HBO director Daniel Minahan (Game of Thrones), who helmed four episodes of Deadwood. While the Deadwood movie has no firm release date, it's expected to debut in spring 2019.
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