There have been multiple Cormac McCarthy adaptations over the years, including the Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men and the extraordinarily bleak post-apocalyptic thriller The Road. Some of the late fiction writer’s most beloved works have been adapted over the years, but perhaps his best novel, Blood Meridian, has never hit the big screen (or any screen, really). But, that soon will change…
Released in 1985, Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West, is a violent, grueling, depraved, and beautifully written exploration of the American West and its effect on the psyche of the men and women who once called it home, especially a teenager called “The Kid,” who saddles up with a brutal and sadistic gang of scalp hunters. At some point in the future, we’ll all get to see how that translates to the screen when the behind-the-scenes players finally bring the historical epic to life.
Here’s everything we know about Blood Meridian, one of the most exciting upcoming book-to-screen adaptations.
What Is The Blood Meridian Release Date?
It will probably be quite some time before we hear anything about the Blood Meridian release date, as there has been no word on who will be a part of its cast or when production will get started. That said, hopefully, we at least get to see the long-awaited Western take up a spot on the 2025 movie schedule.
With information about the upcoming adaptation trickling out throughout the first half of 2024, we should know more about a release date, or at least a window, at some point in the coming months.
Blood Meridian Will Be Based On Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Cormac McCarthy’s 1985 Novel Of The Same Name
Those who have never read or heard of Blood Meridian are in for a real treat when the adaptation finally arrives, because the book is truly something else. First published in 1985, the novel is often considered not just one of Cormac McCarthy’s best books (which is saying something), but also one of the best American novels of the 20th century. In the introduction of a later Penguin Random House edition of the novel, literary critic Harold Bloom compared McCarthy’s text to both Herman Melville, the writer of Moby Dick, and William Faulkner, author of classics like The Sound and Fury.
The novel, which follows a young teenager as he takes up with the Glanton Gang, a mean-spirited and violent bunch prone to violent outbursts and shows of cruelty without empathy or discretion, and the pale, hairless, and devilish Judge Holden, is not for the light of heart. Imagine the cruelty and coldness of No Country for Old Men and The Road turned up a few notches. If you’re a fan of great Western movies, especially those with a violent and bleak outlook, Blood Meridian will do the trick.
John Hillcoat, Who Previously Directed The Road Adaptation, Is Helming Blood Meridian
Bringing Cormac McCarthy’s classic novel to the big screen is going to be no easy task, but the director who has been selected to take on the herculean effort has the track record, and experience with the late author’s work, to pull it off. In April 2023, Deadline reported that John Hillcoat, who previously directed 2009’s The Road starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, had been charged with helming a second book-to-screen adaptation of one of McCarthy’s novels.
Hillcoat, who got his start as a music video director for the likes of Elvis Costello, Bush, Depeche Mode, and Maroon 5, has gone on to direct movies like Lawless and Triple 9 over the years. And, this won’t be his first Western, as Hillcoat previously created The Man from Blackwater short film used to promote the 2010 release of Red Dead Redemption.
Gladiator And Skyfall Scribe John Logan Is Writing The Blood Meridian Script
Hillcoat won’t be alone in his efforts, as a screenwriter with a stellar track record, as well as a few Academy Award nominations, has been tasked with adapting McCarthy’s text and all the themes hidden throughout it into a screenplay. In April 2024, Deadline reported that John Logan, best known for writing movies like Gladiator and Skyfall, was working on the adaptation of the sprawling novel.
In a statement attached to the report, Logan noted that Blood Meridian has been one of his “favorite novels since first reading it in 1985.” Calling it “majestic, beautiful, and uncompromising,” Logan was excited to bring McCarthy’s “dark masterpiece” to life. As anyone who has read the book knows, this isn’t a simple or easy task to pull off, especially if Logan and everyone else involved want to do the material justice.
This Isn’t The First Time Someone Has Attempted To Adapt Blood Meridian For The Big Screen
Though Cormac McCarthy fans have reason to be excited about the upcoming Blood Meridian adaptation, they also have reason to be somewhat skeptical, as this is at least the fourth attempt at turning the book into a movie.
In 2014, James Franco planned to direct and star in a Blood Meridian adaptation with a cast that also included the likes of Russell Crowe, Tye Sheridan, and Vincent D’Onofrio. However, Deadline reported in May 2016 that the project fell apart after Franco and company failed to secure the rights to the novel.
Franco wrote about his desire to turn Blood Meridian into a movie in a 2014 Vice essay where he stated that he wanted to pull off what Ridley Scott and Tommy Lee Jones – both of who attempted to adapt the book in the past before working with McCarthy on The Counselor and No Country for Old Men, respectively – couldn’t pull off. Franco even got as far as shooting test footage with Scott Glenn, Luke Perry, and Mark Pellegrino, but nothing ever came of it.
Though Long Considered Unfilmable, The Late Cormac McCarthy Once Said It Would Take ‘Bountiful Imagination’ To Pull Off
Blood Meridian has long been seen as a book that can’t be adapted to the screen simply because it’s too violent. Though the book is extremely graphic when it comes to the depictions of violence (Game of Thrones and Shogun have nothing on this), its author, the late Cormac McCarthy shot down this notion of “unfilmable” during a 2009 conversation with the Wall Street Journal, stating:
That's all crap. The fact that's it's a bleak and bloody story has nothing to do with whether or not you can put it on the screen. That's not the issue. The issue is it would be very difficult to do and would require someone with a bountiful imagination and a lot of balls. But the payoff could be extraordinary.
Maybe John Hillcoat, with his previous experience with McCarthy’s work, and John Logan, who has found unique ways to depict violence in his various scripts, are capable of pulling this off, finally.
It will be some time before we get to see Blood Meridian on the screen, but there are some promising 2024 movies on the way to hold us over while we wait for more information on this developing project.
