The film-making brothers join the golden age of television with an anthology miniseries set in the old west that could have a theatrical release

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Coen brothers will take their first steps into television with a miniseries set in the old west, which could also be released in cinemas and will be called The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Variety reports that the film-making duo will come to the small screen and once again focus on the western genre after their 2011 film, True Grit.

The brothers will work with Annapurna Television – the recently launched offshoot of Annapurna Pictures, the company behind films including Her, American Hustle and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master – on the project that could combine “an innovative television and theatrical integrated approach”.

Writing and directing duties will be taken care of by the brothers, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is expected to be a western anthology based on an original idea.

The only comment from Joel and Ethan Coen referred to Megan Ellison, who owns Annapurna Pictures, and Annapurna Television’s president of television, Sue Naegle. “We are very excited to be working with Megan and Sue on this project,” they said.

The Coens have not attempted to produce something for television – however, their 1995 film Fargo has been made into a successful series starring Kirsten Dunst and Ted Danson.

In 2011, the brothers were working on an hour-long TV movie about a seedy Los Angeles cop titled Harve Karbo, but the project never made it to the screen.