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Entertainment

The Long-Awaited 'Deadwood' Movie Has a 'Terrific Script'

HBO says there's still a lot to do before it goes into production, though.
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian

Deadwood—HBO's slow-burning western that made profanity an art form—was unceremoniously canceled over a decade ago. In the years since then, rumors have been slowly oozing out about a potential movie based on the beloved series, first in the form of a tweet back in 2015 and then in a real, honest-to-God confirmation from HBO last year.

Now, after months of radio silence, the network has finally confirmed that the Deadwood film is still in the works. On Wednesday, HBO's president of programming, Casey Bloys, told the Television Critics Association that the forthcoming film has a "terrific script," Variety reports.

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"The one thing I was concerned about is I wanted a script that would stand on its own, that if you were a Deadwood fan, it would make you happy and if you had never watched Deadwood, you would still enjoy it," Bloys said. "And I'm happy to say [Deadwood creator] David [Milch] totally delivered on that."

Bloys says there's still a lot of "hurdles" to get over before the movie's a done deal, though.

"If we can do it for a budget that makes sense for us and find a director—we're talking to a few folks," he continued, "and we can get the cast together, which is no easy task because everybody is kind of all over the place, we're inclined to do it."

Deadwood—which stayed pretty historically accurate to South Dakota's lawless 1870s gold-mining town—had a pretty big ensemble cast, and many of its members are busy making shows about Californian cannibals or whatever nowadays, so it'll take some work to get everyone in one place. There's still a lot that needs to happen before the script becomes a movie and the movie hits your eyeholes, but it seems things are moving in the right direction, however slowly.

We'll probably get our chance to see Al Swearengen on the big screen. Eventually.