Coen Brothers to make their first TV show

The Coens are writing and directing their first TV series, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

We kept being told “TV is the new cinema”, and the large number of filmmaking talent dipping their toes in the small screen waters suggests there may be some truth to the statement. The Coen Brothers are the latest major filmmakers to join the likes of Steven Soderbergh (The Knick), Jane Campion (Top of the Lake), Todd Haynes (Mildred Pierce) and the Wachowskis (Sense8) in TV land with new project The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

It was reported yesterday in Variety that the show will be an anthology-style series of six interlocking stories set in the Old West. It’s being produced by the TV wing of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, which has been responsible for financing some of the finest American movies of the last few years – Everybody Wants Some!!, American Hustle, Her, Spring Breakers, Zero Dark Thirty and The Master are among their notable titles.

The Coen’s project will be the first for Annapurna Television, which is headed up by Sue Naegle. "We are very excited to be working with Megan and Sue on this project," the duo said Tuesday.

These filmmaking brothers are well versed with the western style, with No Country for Old Men and True Grit among their recent attempts at the genre. We’re looking forward to what they can cook up over a longer season-long runtime.