Reviving shows is the new creating shows. Fitting in with the current mania for nostalgia in the movie world (see “Jurassic World” and “Star Wars,” among many others), TV execs are reviving shows left right and center, from the upcoming return of “The X-FIles” to Netflix’s “Fuller House” and their new season of “Gilmore Girls.” While no one’s brought back our fave curtailed show, “Terriers,” damn them, another one on our wish list looks like it is coming back.
READ MORE: Watch 26-Minute Visual Essay About ‘Deadwood’
David Milch’s Western show “Deadwood” is one of the best things HBO ever aired: a rich, novelistic, beautifully-sweary take on the genre full of great character actors and gorgeous writing. But it was an expensive series, and ratings were never what they wanted them to be, so the show ended up being hastily cancelled after the third season back in 2006. Rumors have persisted ever since about a movie to wrap up the storyline, surfacing again this past summer, when actor Garret Dillahunt, who played two characters on the series, tweeted that he’d heard promising rumors.
And those rumors are solidifying, because at annual TV news bonanza the TCAs, Michael Lombardo, having already revealed that “Game Of Thrones” has been renewed through 2018, was asked about the “Deadwood” movie. “David has our commitment that we are going to do it,” the executive told TV Line. “He pitched what he thought generally the storyline would be — and knowing David that could change. But it’s going to happen.”
It’s not quite imminent — Milch is apparently writing something else, and will only pen the “Deadwood” movie after that. But fingers crossed, we’ll be seeing Al Swearengen and co back on screen very soon.
Speaking of wrap-up movies, cult drama “Looking” was cancelled after two seasons due to low ratings. But Andrew Haigh, helmer of the tremendous “45 Years” and who directed much of the HBO series, managed to secure a movie farewell with the network, and he tells KCRW’s The Business podcast that he’s already wrapped production on it. Fingers crossed we’ll be seeing that soon, then.
The TCAs also saw HBO reveal premiere dates for a host of their shows. Duplass-produced animated comedy “Animals” arrives on February 5th, with the voices of Rob Corddry, Nick Kroll, Molly Shannon, and more. April 24th brings the return of “Game Of Thrones” (along with “Silicon Valley” and “Veep,” while “Confirmation,” the movie about Clarence Thomas from “Dope” director Rick Famuyiwa, starring Wendell Pierce and Kerry Washington, will hit the same month. And “All The Way,” the Spielberg-produced adaptation of the hit stage play about the relationship between LBJ and MLK, starring Bryan Cranston and Anthony Mackie and directed by “Trumbo” helmer Jay Roach, will hit in May.
Before all that, a February 14th premiere date has been confirmed for Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter’s drama “Vinyl,” set in the music industry in the 1970s. Interestingly, Scorsese (who also just signed to produce a movie about classical pianist Byron Janis for Paramount) says he’ll be more hands-on here than he was with “Boardwalk Empire,” his previous show for the network, while Deadline reveal that the show began way back in 1996 as the idea for a three-hour movie.
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