HBO Slaughtered One of the Best Westerns of All Time Way Too Early

In the early 2000s, David Milch came to HBO executives to pitch a series about ancient Rome. His central idea was sociocultural evolution – Milch wanted to study how civilization is born out of chaos.

At the time, however, HBO was already working on a project that would later be named Rome and become one of the most expensive series in TV history.

David Milch’s idea was turned down, but network executives liked the idea so much that they offered to change the setting so that the show would definitely be greenlit. The showrunner then came up with the idea of changing the time period to the early years after the Civil War. The search for material led the showrunner to the history of the small gold mining camp of Deadwood.

Deadwood Is a Historically Accurate Drama

Historical accuracy was of the main importance – Milch and his team used real diaries and newspapers from the town as a guide for the characters, events and general atmosphere of the series. They created the main characters that were based on real people, who drank in the local saloon, argued over the gold rush, and died in gunfights.

With a general outline based on real events, the screenwriters only had to write authentic lines. The show never had a problem with that: Shakespearean dialogue, diluted with foul language, has become the show's hallmark – over three seasons, the characters uttered the F-word 2980 times, or about one and a half times per minute.

Deadwood Became One of the Most Prominent Western Shows of All Time

Deadwood premiered 20 years ago, but even after all that time, it remains one of the best western series in television history – the show currently holds a 92% critics' score and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Deadwood tells the story of the confrontation between two strong personalities – the sheriff and the owner of the saloon. The story is set in South Dakota in the 1870s, at the height of the gold rush.

Industrialization has not yet reached the Wild West, but the first industrialists from the East are already arriving. The locals exploit them, deceive them, and kill them.

Deadwood Was Unexpectedly Canceled After Season 3

Despite a steadily growing fan base, annual nominations for major TV awards, and critical acclaim, HBO decided to cancel Deadwood after three seasons. The network thought $5 million per episode was too much for the series, which is ironic for a company that would later spend $15 million per an episode of Game of Thrones.

Since 2006, however, recognition of the show's contribution to the TV industry has grown, with Deadwood constantly appearing on lists of the best TV dramas, alongside The Wire, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.

Now it’s clear that HBO made a mistake by canceling Deadwood too early. David Milch expressed a desire to finish his brainchild with a miniseries that would wrap up the storylines. One of the first ideas was to finish the story with real historical events – Deadwood burns to the ground and its inhabitants hope to rebuild the town from scratch.

Then the miniseries idea turned into two full-length movies, the number of which was reduced to one by 2018. It was then that the green light was given for a TV movie that would be the true finale of the series.

Deadwood Got Its Finale Through a Full-Feature Film

The feature film was released on May 31, 2019, a few days after David Milch opened up about his battle with Alzheimer's disease. Even without knowing these tragic details, you can see how emotional the movie turned out to be.

Unfortunately, unlike the showrunners of The Sopranos or The Wire, Milch didn't have time to carefully craft the ending, take the time to tie up all the story arcs, and end the series with a grand finale.

For 13 years, Deadwood fans have been waiting for the show to get the ending it deserves, and Deadwood: The Movie is by no means a triumphant return of the cult TV show, but an honest and quite successful attempt to say goodbye to the legend.

Now you can experience the whole story, from beginning to end, which seems to be the best reason to visit Deadwood.