David Milch's extraordinarily sweary HBO Western series Deadwood was abruptly cancelled after three seasons in 2006, meaning it never got to conclude its story. In the aftermath, there was some talk of a couple of TV-movies to wrap up the threads of the tale left to tell. They never materialised, but now, suddenly, there's word of more Deadwood once again. HBO have confirmed that "very preliminary discussions" are taking place.
Milch’s superb show took the real history and many genuine characters from the South Dakota territories of the 1870s, and crafted a narrative that was riveting, brutal, often hilarious and always astonishingly written. In a nutshell, it revolved around new arrival to the town Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), who started out a hardware store owner and ended up the sheriff; Al Swearingen (Ian McShane), the shifty bar owner who unofficially ran the town; and Alma Garrett (Molly Parker), a widow with a valuable gold claim. There was also Brad Dourif's doctor, Dayton Callie's Charlie Utter, Robin Weigert's Calamity Jane... Actually, you know what? Just head over to our feature on all the characters for the full rundown.
Season 3 revolved around the town's dealings with the bastardly George Hearst (Gerald McRaney), and the rest was silence. Thankfully, we do at least have history to tell us some of what happened next. Deadwood burned to the ground in 1899, and Al Swearengen was found dead from a massive blow to the head on a Denver street in 1904.
Will we now, finally get that conflagration on screen? It's far too early to tell at this stage, and as we said, promises of movies have come and gone before. But Milch told Esquire in 2011 that “I don’t know that the last word has been said on the subject. I still nourish the hope that we’re going to get to do a little more work in that area.”
He may yet get his wish. Even the cast are getting excited. "Come on, HBO" tweeted Garret Dillahunt (so good they cast him twice in completely different roles, as Jack McCall and Francis Wolcott). "You made the Entourage movie. Give the Deadwood fans some closure!”