Travis Fimmel, who played Ragnar Lothbrok on History Channel’s Vikings, has made his departure and is ready to take on new projects. This has resulted in a potential Wyatt Earp anthology show to be produced, starring Fimmel, who has also pitched the show and is helping to get it made. There are no dates set yet, though the latest guesses have it looking like it could start production as soon as he completes a current short-film project he’s working on. It’s important to keep in mind that many shows and movies are bandied about and then die a slow death before ever being made into something real. Fimmel has good relationships with History Channel and those behind the scenes there, so the prognosis is on the positive side of things, but until production starts and cameras are rolling, we have to simply wait with fingers crossed.
The idea, as reported so far, is to introduce Wyatt Earp to the western frontier, primarily in Kansas, and especially in Dodge city. The show will build to the events of the Tombstone shootout and be a work up about how the man came to be who he was, and how he came to that moment. Along the way there will be focus on the people in Wyatt’s life and the associations he held. Friendships with fellow dangerous men like Bat and Doc will be included, and, with a little luck, perhaps we could even see a screen version of Luke Short.
There’s a couple of pluses and minuses that can be assessed even at this early stage. For one, Travis Fimmel has a good look for Wyatt Earp. I haven’t seen him with a swooping mustache yet, but just his eyes and general face shape seem to belie a touch of the stoic gunman. He has expressed his reasons for wanting to see this made, and while I don’t know that it qualifies as a “passion project”, he does carry some level of personal interest in seeing it get done, and that can keep the fires burning for a sustained period of time, rather than seeing it smoke out right away. In short, Fimmel’s participation as both actor and producer should help to make this produced and be decent quality.
On the flip side of things, Hollywood seems to never really understand history, and when they don’t understand history they seem to think they can hide the fact by filling in with lots of cheesy tropes that they think are true to the time. The show is planned to be a History Channel project, so this can offer some hope, but even History Channel sometimes seems to be remiss at presenting accurate history. Additionally, everyone seems to have their own take on Wyatt Earp. This is because he was a fairly complex man who lived a complex life. Some will say that he was a thief and pimp, others will argue that he was an upright officer who valued life. Most all would be able to back up their conviction with solid evidence. Like I say, it was a complex life.
Where this element of complexity becomes an issue is when people try to tell the tale. Too often Wyatt is either unfairly vilified, or unaccountably praised. It’s true that in life he was much more often on the side of right, but it’s become the more contemporary trend to sensationalisticly pick over the darker periods of the mans life and slap the label of bad guy on him. The reason this is relevant to this show is because Fimmel states his reason for wanting to do this project is that he is fascinated by peoples scandalous journey’s into infamy. This sounds like a predisposed notion to cast Earp as a villain, and we don’t need another “Doc” (1972).
It’s still very early, so no judgments should be made at this point, but to do justice to a complex man living a complex life it would be best to avoid pre-labeling him as one thing or another. Fimmel said he’s fascinated by the journey, so let’s hope that means they really investigate it and do it intelligently, and fairly.
Handy With A Gun...! 