The Sixth Gun: TV series based on supernatural Civil War comic book in development

Universal Content Productions has announced (via by Variety) that Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, who was a writer on the Jordan Peele iteration of The Twilight Zone, is developing a television series based on the Oni Press comic book series The Sixth Gun, created by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. Hinds will executive produce the series through his company Mad Massive Entertainment, alongside Eric Gitter and Katie Zucker.

Here’s the story that would be told on The Sixth Gun:

During the darkest days of the Civil War, vile men unearthed six pistols of otherworldly power. But the Sixth Gun, the most dangerous of the weapons, vanished… until the day Becky Montcrief unknowingly grabs that very weapon from her dead father in a desperate attempt at self-defense — an act that hurls her into a terrifying new reality. One where men, and dark entities beyond men, will hunt the holder of the Sixth Gun to the ends of the earth. A reality where the one being that might deliver her might also destroy her — Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with his own shadowed past. Ultimately, after a time- and dimension-spanning journey, our heroes must confront the question: can you ever harness evil in the service of good and survive with your soul intact?

I hadn’t heard of The Sixth Gun before this announcement, but looking over the comic book’s Wikipedia page I see that issues deal with things like undead horsemen, human sacrifice, a wendigo, and a character called the Grey Witch, who serves the Great Wyrms, “ancient creatures from the dawn of time”. So this TV series could turn out to be a fun blend of the Western and horror genres. If it gets picked up.

This is actually the second attempt to turn The Sixth Gun into a TV series. A pilot was shot in 2013, with Jeffrey Reiner directing from a script by Ryan J. Condal and a cast that included Laura Ramsey, Michiel Huisman, Graham McTavish, Elena Satine, Pedro Pascal, Aldis Hodge, W. Earl Brown, and James Le Gros… but that version didn’t move forward. Here’s hoping Hinds will have better luck with his adaptation.

Hinds is currently working as showrunner on the Hulu limited series Washington Black. He co-created the Vertigo comic book series Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child and wrote the books Gunshots in My Cook-Up: Bits and Bites of a Hip-Hop Caribbean Life and To a Young Jazz Musician: Letters From the Road.