Lawmen: Bass Reeves, an 1883 spinoff from the creator of Yellowstone, has just unveiled a bunch of first-look images and a teaser trailer ahead of the show’s release.
Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone empire is enormous: there’s the flagship series (coming to an end this year, if all goes to plan), 1923 and its upcoming second season, the in-development 6666 spinoff (which could be the next big show in the franchise), and 1883, the acclaimed, brutal prequel.
While not a traditional second season, per se, Sheridan originally envisioned the next chapter of 1883 as The Bass Reeves Story, following the titular lawman and how he became known as the “greatest frontier hero in American history.”
While still in the world of Yellowstone, it’s now called Lawmen: Bass Reeves, believed to be the first of an anthology series digging into the stories of other historical figures.
Yellowstone spinoff Lawmen: Bass Reeves drops first look images and teaser trailer
You can check out the first teaser trailer for Lawmen: Bass Reeves below:
The show stars David Oyelowo as Reeves, the first Black US deputy marshal to serve in the territories beyond the Mississippi River after escaping slavery. The role has been a dream for the actor ever since breaking through in 2014’s Selma, in which he played Martin Luther King Jr.
“I can’t tell you how many times in shooting the show I just found myself walking into either a daydream I had, either as a kid playing cowboys when I was younger, or even as an actor in the eight years I’ve been trying to get this thing made,” he told Vanity Fair in an interview before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Despite such a rich backstory, getting #BassReeves off the ground was a fraught task—they first began trying to interest studios and networks in 2015.
“Paramount+ didn't exist at that time,” Oyelowo told VF prior to the #SAGAFTRA strike.
🔗: https://t.co/4eXj3FAD7K pic.twitter.com/GhN4O8sRGV
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 8, 2023
“I had no idea who he was. Within a very cursory Google search, I couldn’t believe I didn’t know who he was – and that a myriad of TV shows and films hadn’t been made about him already, considering the legendary nature of what he had done. That was the beginning of the obsession with trying to get it made.”
The show, which is executive-produced by Sheridan, comes from showrunner Chad Feehan. It’ll have eight episodes, which gives it the room to fully explore his “sprawling, epic” life.
“His very existence questions the nature of justice. If we can now say that the enslavement of people was unjust, then freeing yourself from that unjust circumstance, can that truly be deemed unlawful?” Oyelowo added.
“I think that’s one of the biggest themes of the show. This is all playing out at a time that in many ways defines who and what America is. We watch the birth of America, in a sense, through the personal eyes of one Black man and his family.”
You can find out more about the Yellowstone shows here, or via the below links:
Shows if you love Yellowstone | Why Kevin Costner’s leaving Yellowstone | Is Yellowstone on tonight? | Has Yellowstone been canceled? | 1883 Season 2 | 6666 Yellowstone | 1923 cast | 1923 episodes | Will 1923 return? | Yellowstone cast | Yellowstone Season 6 | Will Kevin Costner be in S5P2? | Matthew McConaughey teases role