Deadwood type TV Show network HBO genre Western

Deadwood fans have been on high alert ever since news came out at the start of the year that David Milch had received a green light from HBO president Michael Lombardo for a Deadwood reunion movie. But there has not been a lot of news since then about the status of the western drama’s return. Lombardo has since departed the premium cable channel, but at the Television Critics Association press tour in July, new president of programming Casey Bloys said that “David is writing the script. We haven’t read it yet… I imagine it will be very good. I feel good about it.”

Well, we know one person that has not only read some of the script, but had it read out loud to her by David Milch himself. And that someone is Kim Dickens, who played madam Joanie Stubbs on the HBO series. We asked the current Fear the Walking Dead star for an update on the project when she stopped by Entertainment Weekly Radio (SiriusXM, channel 105).

“I know he’s writing,” says Dickens. “I know lots of us have had out lunches with him. I’ve had my lunch with him, personally.”

And what exactly happened at said lunch? Did Milch give Dickens an outline of what would be in store for Joanie in the movie? He did more than that. He actually read her specific scenes. “We sat at lunch and he read a few scenes to me between Stubbs, Tolliver, and Jane,” reveals Dickens. “He read all the parts. It was amazing, it was funny, it was sad. It was all that it was.”

Of course, even once Milch finishes the script, there is still the hurdle of arranging schedules for the cast — who have moved on to different projects — to all come back at the same time, but Dickens feels it is a hurdle that will be easily cleared. “I just know that everybody would do whatever they could to be a part of it,” she says. “All of us. I feel confident in saying that on behalf of everybody because it was just an amazing experience for us and there’s hardly anything like it and it’s kind of the reason you want to be an actor, to do things like that. I think it will happen. I think they’re aiming for sooner than later. A lot of things have to continue to fall into place.”

One sad note: Dickens did not, in fact, wear Joanie’s top hat to the lunch meeting with Milch, but it appears there may be another top hat in the making. “No, I didn’t bring that, but I have both of my top hats,” says Dickens, “the straw one and the grey one. And I was talking to Janie Bryant, who was the genius costume designer for Deadwood. We were talking about the possibility of going back and I said, ‘Janie, I got my top hats and everything.” And she’s like ‘Kim, you’re going to have to have a new top.’ So she’s already going to create something new.”

Maybe David Milch will model it for her.