Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s crafted some critical darlings on the big screen, and one of his most acclaimed is getting the TV treatment at Fox, Variety reports. Hell or High Water, the 2016 crime drama written by Sheridan and directed by David Mackenzie, stars Ben Foster and Chris Pine as bank-robbing brothers attempting to save their family’s land and evade Texas Rangers played by Jeff Bridges, and Gil Birmingham. The film earned four Oscar nominations, getting nods for best picture, best editing, best supporting actor for Bridges and best original screenplay for Sheridan.
The series adaption in the work at Fox reportedly puts a twist on the original story, adding a ruthless oil tycoon to the equation while keeping the bank-robbing brothers fighting to keep what belongs to them and the Texas Ranger hot on their heels. The one-hour drama project has received a script and additional material to series order, reports Variety, with Jessica Mecklenburg of Dopesick and Stranger Things signed on to write and executive produce.ย
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Sidney Kimmel, John Penotti, Charlie Corwin, and Marcy Ross of SK Global will also executive produce along with Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane of Madison Wells and Julie Yorn, Carla Hacken, and original film director Mackenzie. Kimmel, Penotti, Pritzker, Shane, Yorn, and Hacken also all produced the original film. Sheridan does not appear to be involved with the interpretation at this stage of development.ย
In February 2017, Sheridan shared just why the neo-Western genre has fascinated him, from Hell or High Water to Sicario and the yet-to-be-developed Yellowstone. “What I wanted to do was explore the modern American frontier. I wanted to explore the consequences of the settlement and assimilation of that land 130 years later. How much has really changed? And how much hasn’t?” he asked in the interview. “And it’s not unique to America. You can make the same study in South America. You can make the same study in Europe. It was all settled, and it was all taken from someone, or someone was assimilated or pushed out. It happened so recently here that the waters are still muddy.”
