You may have expected Josh Brolin to keep his career going on the silver screen following his run as the snap-happy Thanos in the box office-breaking Avengers: Endgame. Surprise! Brolin has decided to head back to TV for a big post-Thanos role. Perhaps sadly, it won't have any superheroes, but Brad Pitt is involved!
The movie star has signed on to lead and executive produce Amazon’s new mystery drama, Outer Range, which the streaming service has ordered to series. Created by Brian Watkins, the show will star Josh Brolin in a storyline that, on the surface, mirrors that of Kevin Costner’s starring vehicle, Yellowstone. However, Brolin’s series seems armed with a paranormal twist to keep things on the freaky side.
Josh Brolin is set to star as Royal Abbott, a rancher in Wyoming who is struggling to keep his family happy while maintaining his preferred way of life. The twist here is that Abbott is faced with something "Unknown" (note the capitalization) after he discovers a brain-bursting mystery on his property, per Deadline.
Sounds like things are going to get pretty trippy for Josh Brolin’s new Amazon series, which will be the first project produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, which entered an overall deal with Plan B this year. Plan B also produced Netflix’s ambitious (and ill-fated) sci-fi series, The OA, and so Pitt's company knows its way around a high-concept mind-bender.
It's unclear, though, if that possibly means Outer Range is a full-blown sci-fi series or something that skews more to the horror-thriller side. (Plan B also produced the Brad Pitt-starring space mystery Ad Astra last year.) The show is currently being billed as a “mystery drama,” which does not entirely confirm or deny Josh Brolin’s show utilizing a science fiction angle. A recent report indicated that Amazon is heading in on the sci-fi and fantasy genre in a significant way, so it would not be surprising.
Having had a lot of success on the silver screen, Josh Brolin is undoubtedly coming to TV with a series that sounds as promising as any small screen efforts he's taken on in the past. The actor’s last starring role on television was in 2003’s Mister Sterling for NBC, though he's hosted SNL a couple of times over the years. A lot has changed in the television industry since 2003, though. For instance, Amazon was merely used for online shopping and not instant access to original TV shows and movies.
Do not worry, though. Josh Brolin will still busy in the film world after his time as Thanos in the live-action MCU. Brolin has Denis Villeneuve’s much-anticipated adaptation of Dune coming up. He will be playing Gurney Halleck in the movie, which is slated to hit theaters on December 18, 2020.
He'll even be reprising the role of Thanos soon for Disney+'s animated series What If...? though it's not likely Thanos will be back in live-action. Brolin reportedly has another unscripted show in development at Hulu, but it's not clear what's happening with that, just as it's not clear if Brolin's Cable will ever join the MCU. In the meantime, Brolin will be busy on both the television and movie fronts!
Outer Range sounds compelling. The plotline does not give away its entire premise. It seems like a tease that could reveal a project that contains a sprawling mythology, or it might be stealthily built drama, or both. Either way, viewers will hopefully be the winners with this one.
Amazon has not set a premiere date for Outer Range yet, so stay tuned for that and further casting news. There are plenty of winter and spring TV premieres to keep you entertained while you wait.
