Thirteen years ago, the story of Deadwood, South Dakota ended in fire. Or so it went for Deadwood, HBO’s critically-beloved revisionist Western that mixed real-life figures (Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp) with series creator David Milch’s masterful storytelling to create a vision of early America that made it feel as immediate and present as any film or series ever has.
After the sudden cancellation of the show in 2006, just as it ended with a staggering cliffhanger, Deadwood: The Movie will bring the saga to a proper end by reuniting Milch with the surviving cast, to settle old scores and gather for a celebration of South Dakota’s statehood in 1889. There, Al Swearingen (Ian McShane) is forced to reckon with the reality that the new America has no room for men like him or his brand of contained lawlessness, while Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) aims to chase down now-Senator George Hearst (Gerald McRaney) once and for all.
Molly Parker, John Hawkes, Anna Gunn, Robin Weigert, Brad Dourif, Paula Malcolmson, and the rest of the series’ surviving primary cast will return for Deadwood: The Movie, which premieres on HBO on May 31st. In the meantime, the final full trailer offers a closer look at what the future of Deadwood looks like, as well as a hand of decidedly red-band lines.
At 74-years-old, Milch was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which caused him to take “a more hands-off approach” during the production of the Deadwood film.