No dear reader you are not imagining that headline, HBO are in the very early stages of a potential Deadwood movie. As you all should know, Deadwood was David Milch’s excellent western series that featured one of the finest ensemble casts ever seen on either the big or small screen.

When the series was cancelled in 2006 there was talk of wrapping the story up with a couple of TV movies. Despite a valiant effort from Milch to get the project moving, HBO didn’t pick the movies up and the vast sets were dismantled. As those wonderfully filthy sets were taken apart, all our collective hopes of seeing Ian McShane as Al Swearengen again went with it. There’s a lot more to Deadwood than a towering performance from Lovejoy, in fact the whole show is filled with towering performances and still has the finest cast ever assembled for TV.

I would love to believe that the movie will happen, I adored the series and was quietly heartbroken when it was cancelled. That said, I’m all kinds of cynical these days and I simply can’t get my hopes up about a Deadwood movie only for them to be dashed.

Actor Garret Dillahunt (he played Francis Wilcott) got the rumour mill into action when he Tweeted;

“So uh….I’m hearing credible rumors about a #Deadwood movie. Come on HBO, you made the ‘Entourage’ movie. Give the #Deadwood fans some closure.”

Dillahunt makes a bloody good point, HBO happily sank millions into the Entourage Movie and it didn’t exactly set the box office ablaze. A Deadwood feature film is obviously going to be more expensive that Vinnie Chase and the boys getting their bro on. But just think of the Academy Award nominations a Deadwood movie would garner.

If you’ve never watched an episode and want to know what all the fuss is about, you can check out our loving feature on Deadwood right here.

Hang dai!