Some Westerns are so baked into the genre that bringing them back is never going to feel like a small swing. You’re not just dusting off a title. You’re walking straight into a legacy filled with outlaws, gunslingers, desperate towns, impossible odds, and the kind of dusty moral clarity that TV keeps trying to complicate in new ways. Now, MGM+’s upcoming remake has added a familiar face from one of modern TV’s biggest Western worlds, which feels about as natural as putting a Stetson in a Sheridan writers’ room.
Will Patton has joined MGM+’s upcoming The Magnificent Seven series, adding another major name to the new take on the classic Western story. Patton is best known to modern Western fans for playing Garrett Randall on Yellowstone, while horror audiences will know him as Officer Frank Hawkins from the recent Halloween trilogy. He joins a cast already led by Matt Dillon, who is set to play Chris Adams, the role made famous by Yul Brynner in the 1960 film.
The new series comes from Tim Kring, best known for creating Heroes. Like previous versions of The Magnificent Seven, the MGM+ series is expected to follow a group of seven outsiders brought together to protect a vulnerable community from a powerful threat. The title has been remade and reworked several times over the years, most recently as the 2016 film starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Why Are We Getting Another ‘The Magnificent Seven’?
Because it’s awesome! The story is a classic and well worn trope at this point, sure, but it’s so simple and it works every time. Who doesn’t love a posse of former criminals coming together to help a town hold a last stand against the baddies? It’s as simple storytelling as you can get. It has action, character conflict, sacrifice, loyalty, and the built-in pleasure of watching a team form under terrible circumstances. Basically, it’s Avengers for people who prefer dust, rifles, horses and emotional repression.
The story also has a long history of being reshaped for different audiences. The 1960 Magnificent Seven was itself inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, turning the Japanese classic into an American Western. Since then, the title has lived on through sequels, television, and Antoine Fuqua’s 2016 remake. That gives MGM+ plenty of room to build a new version without simply trying to photocopy the original.
The Magnificent Seven is in development at MGM+.
via Collider