The relatively recent uptick in TV revivals and comebacks is causing audiences to yearn for the potential returns of just about any television series that have ever ended. But Deadwood fans have been calling for more of the explicit western long before this recent trend started, and everyone's hopes went way up after creator David Milch announced he'd written the script for a potential TV movie. Nothing ever happened with the HBO project since then, at least officially, but it looks like everything is finally clicking into place, as the Deadwood revival movie is reportedly going into production next fall.
The "reportedly" is key there. As it was stated already, HBO hasn't made any confirmed moves in either direction with Deadwood's new script, though programming chief Casey Bloys was vocal about his enjoyment after having read it. TVLine is reporting that sources are pegging Fall 2018 as the time window HBO is pencilling in for Deadwood to go into production, meaning we might get to finally witness the show's feature-length return in early 2019. That's all still a ways off, obviously, but even a rumored date is by far the farthest the long-awaited project has come, so it's worth celebrating with a shot of whatever's kept under the bar.
One of the key issues in making more Deadwood happen is getting the large ensemble cast back together again to film something. While a TV movie has a more limited scope than an entire TV season, it's still a huge commitment for all these actors, most of whom are busy with other projects. But Fall 2018 makes a lot of sense for several of the Deadwood stars that would presumably be returning. Ian McShane stars in Starz's American Gods, a spring series with a lengthy post-production process, which could give the actor a free window if Season 3 becomes a reality. Timothy Olyphant is currently starring in Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet, which will debut Season 2 in 2018, but he could possibly plot out his schedule appropriately. The same goes for Fear the Walking Dead star Kim Dickens and others whose projects aren't tethered to the broadcast network schedule.
Speaking of cast members, everyone who's read the script seems to be fully down with returning for the TV movie if it happens. Earlier this year, Kim Dickens told CinemaBlend that the script brought tears to her eyes when she read it, and she said it was amazing. Not that anyone would expect David Milch to turn in 120 pages of garbage as a way to bring Deadwood back, but the encouraging words are always nice to hear.
Until we hear otherwise, we're hopeful that Deadwood's TV movie does indeed kick off production in the fall of 2018. In the meantime, check out all the unfortunate shows that ended in 2017, and hit up our fall TV premiere schedule to see everything that's still yet to debut in the coming weeks.
