The return of 1923 and the premiere of American Primeval are among the shows in store for us.
You can expect a wide variety of westerns and neo-westerns — including, hopefully, Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2 — in theaters and various TV platforms during 2025. Here are 20 titles already on our must-see list.
20 Westerns To Watch In 2025
1923
Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are back as John Dutton’s ancestors Jacob and Cara Dutton in the second and final season of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequel. They’re still battling the villainous Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) for control of their humongous ranch, and anxiously awaiting the return of their dashing nephew Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar). Premiere date: February 23.
Harrison Ford and Helen Miren in 1923
The Abandons
Netflix says its upcoming series created by Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) “tells the story of a group of diverse renegade families living on the fringes of society in 1850s Oregon. These lost souls band together to fight corrupt forces and do anything they can to save their land. The western series will explore the jagged line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets as this makeshift family battles to keep what’s theirs.” Stars include Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Michael Greyeyes (Woman Walks Ahead, Rutherford Falls) and Patton Oswald (Manhunt).
American Primeval
Set to premiere January 9, this Netflix series is a sweeping adventure set in the 1857 American West. Directed by Pete Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor) and written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, Twisters), the epic drama boasts an ensemble cast that includes Shea Whigham (Joker, Boardwalk Empire) as Jim Bridger, the legendary frontiersman who runs his namesake fort as a popular stopping point for settlers and trappers; and Kim Coates as Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church and a man who will do whatever it takes to secure the survival of his persecuted followers — including using his Mormon army, the Nauvoo Legion.
Billy the Kid
Tom Blyth returns in the title role for the third and final season of the MGM+ western series. According to MGM+, “The Lincoln County War may be officially over, but both Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett [Alex Roe} have important issues to resolve — there is a reckoning to come. Billy is still at large, and Garrett is out to capture him, dead or alive.”
Tom Blyth in Billy the Kid
Brave
Writer-director Steven Paul Judd (Echo, Dark Winds) has assembled an all-star Indigenous cast — Dallas Goldtooth (Reservation Dogs, Rez Ball), Amber Midthunder (Prey), Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans, Hostiles) and Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Longmire) — for this contemporary comedy-drama about a ne’er-do-well Native casino entertainer (Goldtooth) who tries to sober up long enough to assist his cancer-stricken young niece.
Graham Greene in Brave
Buffalo Daze
C&I cover star Brady Jandreau (The Ride) stars in this biopic about Jim Grinder, the legendary mixed-blood First Nations outlaw often referred to as the Indian Robin Hood of British Columbia. The cast also includes Mo Brings Plenty (Yellowstone), Buck Taylor (Gunsmoke), Eric Nelsen (1883), Chris Mulkey (Far Haven), Crystle Lightning (Fancy Dance), Eugene Brave Rock (Dark Winds), and Eddie Spears (Hell on Wheels).
Dark Winds
During an expanded eight-episode Season 3, Lt. Joe Leaphorn (C&I reader favorite Zahn McClarnon) and his deputy Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) investigate the disappearance of two boys who left in their wake only an abandoned bicycle and a blood-stained patch of ground. Meanwhile, Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito (Jessica Matten) settles into her new life with the Border Patrol — and uncovers a conspiracy involving human and drug smuggling.
Elkhorn
Young Theodore Roosevelt will be back in the saddle again for a second season of the acclaimed INSP series, with Mason Beals returning in the role of the future U.S. President. Teddy is still establishing himself as a cattle rancher in the Dakota Territory, and still dealing with threats from town founder Marquis de Morés (Jeff DuJardin).
Mason Beals as young Teddy Roosevelt in Elkhorn
Fallon
Teton Ridge, owner of C&I, has picked up the rights to adapt Louis L’Amour’s novel Fallon into a feature film. There haven’t been any announcements yet regarding cast or director choices, but here’s how Deadline has described the plot: Macon Fallon, who’s on the run and in need of fast cash, sets out to con an idealistic group of pioneers. But when a young woman catches on, things take an unexpected turn.
Government Work
Cult-fave filmmaker Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy) long ago established himself as a Spaghetti Western scholar — his 2009 book 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director’s Take on the Spaghetti Western is essential reading — but up until now, the only western he has ever made is the mondo-bizzaro Tombstone Rashomon (2017), the tale of a time-traveling film crew bent on covering the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. (They arrive after the fact, and must rely on conflicting testimony from Wyatt Earp and other notables.) He’s saddling up again for Government Work, which he told C&I actually is another oater, despite its title and its source material, Nicolai Gogol's Dead Souls. Hey, it was partly filmed in Arizona on the Mescal Movie Set, so that counts for something, right?
Alex Cox directing Government Work
The Gunslingers
Nicolas Cage rides again in his third western of recent vintage, following The Old Way and Butcher’s Crossing. Written and directed by Brian Skiba, it has been described as a violent drama about Ben (Cage), a mad genius, and Thomas Keller (Stephen Dorff), a reformed gunslinger, who are guided by a spiritual leader (Costas Mandylor) as they strive for vindication in a frontier town called Redemption. Unfortunately, the notorious Five Points Gang may tempt them to slap on their six-shooters again.
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2
The second film in what director-star Kevin Costner continues to insist will be a four-part western epic was originally scheduled to open last year, but was pushed back indefinitely after Chapter 1 opened to mixed reviews and disappointing box-office numbers. We actually enjoyed the opening installment, so we’re eagerly awaiting the further adventures of Hayes Ellison (Costner) and a host of supporting characters.
The Last Rodeo
Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, The Warrant) does triple duty as producer, co-scripter and star of this contemporary drama about a retired bull riding star who’s forced by a family crisis to resume rodeoing. Directed by Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes, Up Close & Personal) and co-starring Mykelti Williamson (Forrest Gump), Christopher McDonald (Quiz Show, Hacks), Sarah Jones (For All Mankind), and Professional Bull Riding Champion Daylon Swearingen, it’s tentatively set for a May 23 release.
The Last Train To Fortune
Malcolm McDowell stars as Cecil Peachtree, a conservative schoolmaster who misses the last train headed to his next assignment in the frontier town of Fortune. Cecil reluctantly befriends and strikes a deal with the outlaw Dooley (James Paxton), who agrees to bring Cecil to Fortune in exchange for the teacher’s school stipend. Trivia note: Paxton is the son of the late Bill Paxton, who was originally slated to play Dooley until his tragic death in 2017.
James Paxton and Malcolm McDowell in Last Train to Fortune
Long Shadows
Veteran actor William Shockley of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman fame makes his debut as a feature filmmaker as director and co-scripter of this western drama starring Dermot Mulroney (Young Guns) as Dallas Garrett, a former gunslinger who serves as mentor to a young man seeking revenge for the murders of his parents.
The Madison
We still don’t know a lot about this latest Yellowstone-connected Paramount+ series, other than it stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Stacy Clyburn, the wealthy matriarch of a family who heads to Montana from New York City following the death of her husband and brother-in-law in a plane crash. At one point, Kurt Russell was rumored to co-star, but that casting has yet to be confirmed.
Ransom Canyon
Yet another Netflix series, this one described as “a romance-fueled family drama and contemporary western saga that charts the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set against the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country.” The ensemble cast includes Josh Duhamel (Transformers), Minka Kelly (Euphoria), James Brolin (Westworld, Marcus Welby M.D.), Jack Schumacher (Top Gun: Maverick), and Justin Johnson Cortez (Walker: Independence).
Josh Duhamel in Ransom Canyon
Timber Lands
C&I reader favorite and frequent cover star Wes Studi joins Owen Crow Shoe (Joe Pickett, Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1) and Tanya Beatty (Yellowstone, Hostiles) for a contemporary drama described as a “modern western” set against the backdrop of Oregon’s vast timber industry.
Trail of Vengeance
Formerly known as Broken Trail — but retitled presumably to avoid confusion with the 2006 Robert Duvall miniseries of the same title — director Johnny Remo’s 1875 western stars Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore) as a young woman driven to extremes when a notorious army officer (Jeff Fahey) kills her husband. Graham Greene and 1883 veterans Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert also figure prominently in the cast.
Wind River: Rising
Previously known as Wind River: The Next Chapter, this long-delayed and eagerly awaited sequel to Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River, winner of the C&I Movie Award for Best Picture, has Chip Hansen (Martin Sensmeier) returning to Wyoming’s Wind River reservation as a newly minted tracker for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He’s recruited by the FBI to help with an investigation into unsolved ritualistic murders in around the place he calls home. Sheridan isn’t involved — Kari Skolgland (The Falcon and The Winter Soldier) is director and co-scriptwriter — and Jeremy Renner is nowhere to be seen. But Gil Birmingham returns in his role from the previous film, joined by newcomers Scott Eastwood (The Longest Ride), Chaske Spencer (The English), Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon), Alan Ruck (Young Guns 2), Jason Clarke (Oppenheimer), and Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country).
Jeremy Renner and Gil Birmingham in Wind River
PHOTOGRAPHY: (Cover image) Courtesy Of Paramount Plus/1923
