Taylor Sheridan & Stephen King’s All-Time Favorite Western Officially Lands a Netflix Revival 37 Years Later

Taylor Sheridan is one of the most successful TV producers working today, having created hits like Yellowstone, Landman, 1883, Tulsa King, and more. Although not all of these shows are technically westerns, they all have a western ethos, with embattled characters trying to hold onto their dignity in lawless environments.

So when Taylor Sheridan names his favorite western, it means something. For Sheridan, that western is Lonesome Dove, a 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Larry McMurtry that was turned into a universally beloved 1989 miniseries. Sheridan wrote the foreword to Simon & Schuster’s 40th anniversary edition of the novel, where he described reading the novel and watching the miniseries as “easily the most formative event in my life.” Stephen King, one of the most successful authors alive, named Lonesome Dove has his favorite book. This story has fans in high places.

Now, showrunners Jeb Stuart and Zoe Kazan are teaming up to make a new adaptation of Lonesome Dove for Netflix, which should have everyone excited. “We really meet in a place of wanting to run a set where people are happy, of wanting to produce things at the highest level,” Kazan told ScreenRant. “We want to make stories that reach people at a human level. I think we are both problem solvers. We’re very roll-up-your-sleeves and get in there, and it just works. I am really daunted by adapting Lonesome Dove, and I think that’s a good place to be working from.”

Set in the 1870s during the waning days of the Old West, Lonesome Dove is about a pair of retired Texas Rangers who run a saloon in the border town of Lonesome Dove. When they hear of opportunity in the Montana Territory, they decide to drive a herd of cattle across the country with the hope of becoming the first people to set up a cattle ranch north of the Yellowstone River. Knowing Taylor Sheridan’s fondness for this story, it may not be a coincidence that Yellowstone is set in Montana.

The Lonesome Dove miniseries starred Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall as the two main characters, ably assisted by a star-studded cast that included Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Anjelica Huston, and Steve Buscemi. The series took home seven Primetime Emmy Awards. It’s easy to imagine why Zoe Kazan would be daunted by taking another stab at such an iconic story, but there’s reason to be hopeful. She and Jeb Stuart, who wrote both Die Hard (1988) and The Fugitive (1993), served as showrunners on East of Eden, Netflix’s new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic 1952 novel. That miniseries has received rave reviews from critics, so Kazan and Stuart may be able to pull off another win with Lonesome Dove.

At the moment, there is no word on a release date for the new Lonesome Dove show, nor anything about the cast. We’ll keep our ear to the ground for more information.