BBC is partnering with the East India Co. Amazon Prime on a six-episode series titled The English, starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer. It drops in November. Here’s the caper:
An epic chase Western, The English takes the core themes of identity and revenge to tell a uniquely compelling parable on race, power, and love. An aristocratic Englishwoman, Lady Cornelia Locke, and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout, Eli Whipp, come together in 1890 mid-America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood. Both of them have a clear sense of their destiny, but neither is aware that it is rooted in a shared past. They must face increasingly terrifying obstacles that will test them to their limits, physically and psychologically. But as each obstacle is overcome, it draws them closer to their ultimate destination—the new town of Hoxem, Wyoming. It is here, after an investigation by the local sheriff Robert Marshall and young widow Martha Myers into a series of bizarre and macabre unsolved murders, that the full extent of their intertwined history will be truly understood, and they will come face-to-face with the future they must live.
I like Emily Blunt a great deal, particularly in Sicario, and Chaske Spencer was excellent in the pulpy masterpiece Banshee.
I’m in.
Matthew says
Definitely sounds interesting. Am I correct in my belief that the English aristocracy owned quite a few ranches in the West? I know that Charles Goodnight had business dealings for one since it is mentioned in Howard’s letters to Lovecraft.
One of my ancestors MIGHT have been part Pawnee. I’m not certain.
JimC says
Yes, there was a late-19th century vogue for English and Scottish investors to own and/or operate ranches in the West, particularly in Colorado and Wyoming. The shine wore off of that with the horrible Big Die-Up winter of 1886-87. There were also quite a few British sportsmen banging around in the West from the 1830s on.
deuce says
There were Englismen all over the Southwest, the Lincoln County War not being the least example. There was also a French aristocrat–who later died at the hands of the Tuaregs–who challenged Teddy to a duel in Montana (or Wyoming?).
The West REALLY WAS ‘wild’.
Wayne says
Nice to see a story with a Pawnee in a heroic role, since modern Westerns often portray them as villains aiding the U.S. against the Sioux. People are people, good and bad. I’m a fan of Emily Blunt too; she has those eyes.
Lynda A Sanchez says
Yup and who can forget the Lincoln County War with Englishman John H. Tunstall coming to New Mexico where he began a mercantile business, bought a ranch and competed with the Irishmen Murphy, Dolan and Riley.
Sounds like a good adventure story. Lynda
Jerry N says
They played a pretty significant role in the Johnson County war as well. There is something captivating about Emily Blunt, but I have to take a side trail on her role in Sicario. Her character in that film annoyed the hell out of me. It’s been a while since I watched that film, so I can’t really say why. Oh well, this upcoming film has a lot of potential, looking forward to it!
Ps. Nice to hear from you Lynda!
lane batot says
Looks good!….. Yeah, I git aggravated at how all the tribes that were allies of the whites out West(usually for pure survival against their many more powerful and numerous Indian enemies that were systematically exterminating them), like the Pawnee, Crow, and Shoshone, are often depicted as the villains by Hollywood……
Jean says
Jim, this whole blog was one of your best. Thanks for all your efforts.
JimC says
Thanks Jean.