After the 2016 reboot, The Magnificent Seven is now set to return in the form of a Prime Video TV show from True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto. John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven was first released back in 1960, serving as a Western-style remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The film was remade in 2016 by director Antoine Fuqua starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, earning mixed reviews and becoming a modest box office success.
Now, Variety reports that, after co-writing the 2016 reboot, Pizzolatto is set to reboot The Magnificent Seven once more in the form of a Prime Video TV show. The project was initially announced in March as an original series, but will now serve as a reimagining of the classic Western. The reboot show is part of larger plans in the works at Amazon to capitalize on the valuable IP the company inherited following its acquisition of MGM last year. Check out the official logline for the Magnificent Seven reboot show below:
“In the tradition of the great epics from the golden age of westerns, an outlaw and his cohorts must unite a disparate band of indelible fighters to defend a settlement of immigrant homesteaders in an open range war against cattle barons in central Texas, telling an expansive saga of adventure, action and romance.”
What To Expect From The Magnificent Seven Reboot Show
Since the Magnificent Seven show is expected to serve as a reimagining of a premise that is now very familiar, it's much more clear what the show will actually be about. At the core of the original Magnificent Seven and its reboot is a story about a ragtag group of cowboys on various sides of the law who unite to save a small community from oppressors. In the original movie, the oppressors are a gang of bandits, but the 2016 reboot makes some changes in this regard.
Instead of featuring a more traditional bandit villain, 2016's The Magnificent Seven features a ruthless industrialist as the central antagonist. In keeping with this trend of engaging more with themes regarding class and social status, the upcoming Prime Video series will make wealthy cattle barons the central villains. The 2016 reboot also makes the much-needed update of including an interesting female heroine in the form of Haley Bennett's Emma Cullen, who rallies the titular cowboy crew against Bartholomew after the death of her husband, a kind of update that the reboot show would do well to lean into.
Other than the villains, The Magnificent Seven reboot will largely live or die by the cast that is assembled. Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, and Eli Wallach, among others, are part of what has made the 1960 original such a classic, and the assemblage of actors like Washington, Pratt, and Ethan Hawke was also a highlight of the 2016 reboot. A number of questions remain regarding the Magnificent Seven reboot show, but Pizzolatto and the rest of the creative team behind the show will have a lot of work to do to justify yet another retelling of the classic tale.
Source: Variety