'Deadwood' movie: Ian McShane says he would be on board

No deals have been made for a Deadwood movie among the canceled Western’s cast, but star Ian McShane says he’s totally on board if HBO decides to pull the trigger.

Creator David Milch has been working on a script for HBO for the long-long-long awaited Deadwood movie, something the network has confirmed, but nothing has been greenlit. McShane tells EW he’s ready to resurrect Al Swearengen, even with his starring role in Starz’ upcoming Neil Gaiman fantasy drama American Gods.

“Of course I’d love to reprise that,” McShane says. “How could one not, when it was snatched away rather unjustly by a combination of forces we’ll never know about — hubris or money or whatever. But [Deadwood] certainly finished too early. At the time, most of us working on the show were incredulous. It’s been announced by HBO so its not like I’m saying it. I know for a fact David is working on the script. It’s been 10 years since it finished. [Star Timothy Olyphant’s] free from Justified. I’m hoping they’ll make the deal soon, for two or four hours, whatever they decide on. It was a very close knit group of actors on it. We got along very well. I’m sure David will decide to set it 10 years later, after the great fire or whatever happened in Deadwood. They haven’t done the deal yet. They [were planning] to do it late this year or early next year.”

Deadwood launched in 2004 and ran for three seasons before being cut short without a creatively satisfying conclusion. A planned movie was in the works after its cancellation, but eventually talks between Milch and the network collapsed. Ever since, the lack of a Deadwood movie gets regularly brought up by those HBO subscribers who watched the series as sore point.

In addition to American Gods and 2017’s action sequel John Wick 2, McShane also has a mysterious upcoming role in the current season of HBO’s Game of Thrones.