American film auteurs Joel and Ethan Coen are set to launch their first foray into television with a series named The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The filmmaking brothers, best known for No Country for Old Men and cult classic The Big Lebowski, have written the script and will direct all of the episodes of the show, which is being billed as a western anthology.
The two brothers, whose work has seen them win Oscars, Golden Globes and the Palme d’Or at Cannes, have previously been credited as executive producers on the critically acclaimed FX series Fargo, itself an anthology series loosely based on their iconic 1996 film of the same name. That series was created by Noah Hawley with the blessing of the brothers, whose involvement in the project is extremely limited.
Buster Scruggs is the first time that the Coens have managed to bring a TV show idea through development stages, having previously failed to get HarveKarbo off the ground at Fox in 2011. That show, a TV movie about an ill-tempered LA private detective who has to inspect the depraved habits of Hollywood’s rich and famous, was axed, but their new move to television is in keeping with the growing trend of indie auteurs turning their attention to the small screen.
The pair will work with Annapurna Television, a recently launched branch of Annapurna Pictures, the studio behind the likes of Her, American Hustle, and The Master. The company has said it has plans for Buster Scruggs to screen via “an innovative television and theatrical integrated approach,” suggesting it will on both small and silver screens.