Ian McShane seems excited to resurrect Al Swearengen for the Deadwood movie

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Break out the peaches! Following the cancellation of HBO's Deadwood after three seasons, there was hope that the series would be concluded with one or more movies, but talks between HBO and David Milch broke down and it seemed as though we'd seen the last of Al Swearengen and the colourful citizens of Deadwood. Then, a miracle, earlier this year HBO programming president Michael Lombardo gave Milch the go-ahead to resurrect the series as a TV movie. Despite that go-ahead, the project hasn't been officially green-lit by HBO yet, so keep those fingers crossed.

One person keeping his fingers crossed is Ian McShane, Mr. Al Swearengen himself. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly McShane said that he'd love to reprise his role and reunite with the Deadwood cast.

How could one not, when it was snatched away rather unjustly by a combination of forces we’ll never know about – hubris or money or whatever. But [Deadwood] certainly finished too early. At the time, most of us working on the show were incredulous. It’s been announced by HBO so its not like I’m saying it. I know for a fact David is working on the script. It’s been 10 years since it finished. [Star Timothy Olyphant’s] free from Justified. I’m hoping they’ll make the deal soon, for two or four hours, whatever they decide on. It was a very close knit group of actors on it. We got along very well. I’m sure David will decide to set it 10 years later, after the great fire or whatever happened in Deadwood.

As a deal hasn't been struck yet it's hard to tell exactly when (or if, gulp) production on Deadwood would begin, but Ian McShane told EW that they were planning on doing it "late this year or early next year." Even without the Deadwood movie, there's still plenty of McShane to look forward to, including a guest spot on Game of Thrones, reprising his role of Winston in JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO, and starring as Mr. Wednesday in Neil Gaiman's American Gods for Starz.