Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Coen Brothers TV Western Series Cast & Episode Details
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a television event series that will put the signature dark humor and idiosyncratic action of directors Joel and Ethan Coen through a Western lens. Indeed, the sibling visionaries behind film classics such as No Country for Old Men, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, Fargo and last year’s Hail, Caesar! will undoubtedly produce an intriguingly original offering in the Western genre.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Latest News
Netflix has announced that it will be the platform on which the Coens showcase their peak television anthology venture The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. As the stupendous cinema-shooting siblings boldly declare in a statement, “We are streaming motherf—ers!”
Netflix’s vice president of original content Cindy Holland chimed in on the acquisition, less colorfully, stating, “The Coens are visionary directors, masterful storytellers, and colorful linguists. We are thrilled for Netflix to become home to the full range of their talents.”
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs will see the Coen Brothers team with Annapurna Television for a small screen limited event series. Based on their original idea, the Coens have written the Buster Scruggs script and will serve as directors, intent on taking an innovative approach that will reportedly combine the television and theatrical experiences. The Coens are also producing Buster Scruggs through their company Mike Zoss Productions. Annapurna founder Megan Ellison and their president of television Sue Naegle will serve as executive producers.
While we are still left without a proper release date for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, it is currently being touted for 2018.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Cast
The first spate of cast members has arrived via The Tracking Board.
Tim Blake Nelson has been cast in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – both the overall film and the eponymous omnibus episode – as the title character himself, who is described as “a singing cowboy.”
Nelson has been seen in films such as 2016’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, 2015’s Fantastic Four (as a character nod to comic villain Mole Man), 2012’s Lincoln, 2008’s Incredible Hulk (as Samuel Sterns, Hulk’s would-be nemesis the Leader) and 2003’s Holes. However, his television role in Buster Scruggs will be a reunion, since Nelson was part of the primary trio of fugitives – opposite George Clooney and John Turturro – in the Coens’ legendarily rustic 2000 adventure comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which was an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey.
James Franco (127 Hours, Spider-Man Trilogy), Stephen Root (Boardwalk Empire, Office Space) and Ralph Ineson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Guardians of the Galaxy) are onboard to appear in “Near Algodones.” The episode centers on a “high plains drifter” who botches attempts at bank robbery and cattle driving.
Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick, Ruby Sparks) will reportedly star in “The Girl Who Got Rattled” to play the character to whom the title refers. As the initial report describes, Kazan’s character is a woman on a wagon train who seeks the help of two trail bosses.
Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey, Judging Amy) will capitalize on newfound momentum from her Spider-Man: Homecoming role to star in “The Mortal Remains,” which will follow five passengers on a stagecoach headed for a mysterious destination.
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Episodes
Ahead of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs‘s mid-July through September Santa Fe, New Mexico shoot, The Albuquerque Journal report that its anthological structure classifies it not as a TV series, but, rather, as “a feature-length omnibus series.” Its six episodes will each showcase a completely different storyline, all of which are Westerns. However, the previous report hinted that the six stories could somehow intertwine, likely indirectly. The six episodes break down as follows:
“The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs” follows a singing cowboy.
“Near Algodones” is about a high-plains drifter whose own fecklessness dogs his attempts at bank robbery and cattle driving.
“Meal Ticket” follows an actor and impresario of a traveling show.
“All Gold Canyon” is about a prospector who happily finds a gold seam but then unhappily finds an evil encroacher.
“The Gal Who Got Rattled” follows two trail bosses on the Oregon Trail and a woman on the wagon train who needs the help of one of them and who might be a marriage prospect for the other.
“The Mortal Remains” follows five very different passengers on a stagecoach of mysterious destination.
The Coens have previously dabbled in the Western genre with their 2010 remake of True Grit. Plus, the Texas-1980 setting of 2007’s No Country for Old Men emanated a dusty Western vibe. However, their television transition was apparently one of necessity for this tale, since the scope of the project would have allegedly been “too challenging” to cover within the breadth of a single film release.
While the Coens do serve as executive producers on FX’s serial adaptation of their film Fargo, Buster Scruggs marks their proper television debut. The move is similar to big shot Hollywood helmers like Steven Soderbergh with Cinemax’s The Knick, David O. Russell with a star-studded mystery Amazon project, Woody Allen with an Amazon project and J.J. Abrams, who has multiple small screen projects gestating, including an HBO series set in space called Glare. Even the atmospheric David Fincher, who serves as executive producer on Netflix’s House of Cards, has another TV project in the works with FBI crime drama Mindhunter. Thus, while the transition might be seen as reinforcing ominous shifts in the film industry business model, the Coens are, at least, in good company.
Regardless, the fact that fans are set for a Coen Brother television Western… err, feature-length omnibus with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is certainly exciting stuff.
