Dennis Quaid hops aboard the Yellowstone spin-off train
Quaid will star opposite David Oyelowo in upcoming 1883 spin-off The Bass Reeves Story
Aux News Dennis Quaid
One of these days, we’re all going to look up, only to find that every single actor of a certain age in Hollywood has vanished—whisked away to a magical land called Montana, where Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan pays them to run and laugh and play and pretend to shoot each other for all the live-long day. Kevin Costner is there; so is Helen Mirren. Sam Elliott? He’s just having a grand old time, hanging out with Harrison Ford and Danny Huston and all the horses you can eat. And now, Deadline reports, Dennis Quaid has gotten the call: The Strange World star has signed on to appear in Sheridan’s The Bass Reeves Story, a spin-off of 1883, itself a spin-off of the mothership Yellowstone series—which means we’re well and truly into All In The Family begets Maude begets Good Times territory here, folks.
Anyway: Quaid has signed on for a starring role in Bass Reeves, which was announced last year, and which will star David Oyelowo as the title character—a real-life U.S. Marshall who was one of the first Black lawmen to operate in the United States west of the Mississippi. (It’s not hard to see why Sheridan was drawn to Reeves, by the by; with more than 3000 arrests to his name—including, in a bit of drama worthy of Yellowstone, his own son, on charges of murdering his wife—Reeves is a larger than life figure of 19th century history.)
Oyelowo was attached to the project last May. Now Quaid has signed on, playing a fellow Deputy U.S. Marshall. (A non-historical one, as far as we can tell.) He comes to the series after an increasing focus on TV in recent years; other small-screen credits of late include Goliath, Netflix’s Merry Happy Whatever, and Amazon Prime’s Fortitude. It’s not clear when Bass Reeves is likely to start filming, although when it does arrive, it’ll almost certainly appear as part of Sheridan’s ever-expanding universe of shows on Paramount+
14 Comments
We’re making a story about an historical figure, but it’s somehow going to be a spin-off? Bass Reeves story is remarkable; I don’t see the need to fictionalize it. But, I’m not Taylor Sheridan, so wtf do I know?
Something about established property with base concurrent viewer I guess
Well, the Lone Ranger is a 1950’s fictionalized version of his story, so, there is that…
I’m quite interested to see how Taylor Sheridan handles the matter of race. As in, I’ll be watching from behind the sofa.
The full title is 1883: The Bass Reeves Story (He’s One of the Good Ones).
I really hope they’re going to tell Bass Reeves’ accurately. The dude was legendary. He knocked his slave owner out during a card game, then escaped to the Native American territory in Oklahoma. He learned their languages and tracking skills. After the Civil War, the Marshalls needed people who were familiar with the Oklahoma territory, since that’s where many suspects were holing up. Reeves was the obvious choice because he’d spent years there and knew all the tribes. Not only was he an incredible tracker and linguist, he was an amazing quick draw. And I don’t think there is any US Marshall who has matched his arrest record yet. He was the archetype of the Old West lawman we imagine and see in westerns, except he was real and he was a Black former slave.
Arresting over 3000 fugitives, how did he have time to have 11 children?
Bass Reeves is one of those guys whose story is so batshit amazing that they might have to tone it down to make it believable. The guy’s the real-life Lone Ranger.
It’s so weird how both Yellowstone spinoffs are FAR superior to the original show, not least because there’s none of that troubling “The main characters are always morally right just because they’re the main characters, no matter what they’re doing” stuff.
I still haven’t seen Yellowstone but I think both 1883 and 1923 work as well as they do because they’re both conceived as limited stories. The thing I keep reading about Yellowstone is how repetitive the plotlines are and how the story doesn’t really evolve.
Ugh. Next thing you know, they will green light a Silverado sequel. And I actually like Silverado.It will be named Silveradeux.
Why not? The main cast of Silverado are still all alive, right?
Wow so now they have both Harrison Ford AND discount Harrison Ford!
That’s funny. I always thought of Kurt Russell as a sort of B movie Harrison Ford. Not as a less skilled actor necessarily but in the sense that Ford’s films generally made a lot more money than Russell’s films in their primes in the 80s and 90s.