The Magnificent Seven will ride again as MGM+ orders an eight episode season
If you like Westerns – and you should – here’s some excellent news. The Magnificent Seven will ride from the big screen to the small, as MGM+ has pulled the trigger on a new version of the revered oater from creator Tim Kring (Heroes, which used to be good), who will executive produce alongside Donald De Line (Billy the Kid, which blows), Lawrence Mirisch and Bruce Kaufman. We’re getting eight episodes, which strikes me as a missed opportunity, and production is slated to begin in June, according to Variety.
Now, yes, it’s a remake, but let’s not start frothing just yet. After all, the original 1960 movie by John Sturges, is a remake itself – of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, the greatest goddamn movie ever made. And while The Magnificent Seven has been remade before now – I’m a fan of Antoine Fuqua’s messy, ultra-violent 2016 take with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt – Seven Samurai has influenced every bloody thing. Battle Beyond The Stars? Seven Samurai. Rebel Moon? Seven Samurai. A Bug’s Life? Seven Samurai. It’s samurai all the way down.
And that’s largely because the basic story is so robust – “poor village hires desperate mercenaries to fend off bandits” can cover a lot of ground. In MGM’s upcoming remake, the imperiled villagers are Quakers being menaced by a greedy land baron. As Variety has it, “They must grapple with the question of whether it is acceptable to use violence to defend a people whose faith is based on nonviolence.” Which sounds like the plot to They Call Me Trinity, if I remember correctly.
No casting news yet, sadly, which is a shame – I wonder how this new Seven will measure up against the gang they got together for the last Magnificent Seven TV series, which saw Michael Biehn saddling up with Ron Perlman. But then again, I’m pretty sure nobody remembers that show except me.
Nobody seems too interested in protecting the copyright on that one, so have a hunt around YouTube if you fancy a look.
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