Bill Keveney | USA TODAY

PASADENA, Calif. — It's been more than a decade since Al Swearengen raised Cain, swore a blue streak and mastered the corrupt arts as proprietor of The Gem saloon in HBO's dearly missed "Deadwood."

But Al and his frontier brethren will be back this year for a "Deadwood" film that's been talked about for ages, the finishing touch for the acclaimed Western drama that ended its series run in 2006 after three seasons and 36 episodes.

It's been quite a trip back in time and place for Ian McShane, who infused Al with energy, swagger and ruffian charm, making the character a fan favorite and earning the English actor a Golden Globe.

McShane, who plays Mr. Wednesday on Starz's "American Gods" (Season 2, March 10), was thrilled to return to "Deadwood," a possibility frequently discussed but long considered unlikely after such an extended hiatus.

Making the film was "surreal, out of body ... going back 15 years with the people you've loved and worked with," McShane said in an interview at the Television Critics Association.

Doug Hyun, HBO

Filming was completed in December. HBO last year targeted a spring premiere, but no date has been announced.

Did McShane expect the "Deadwood" reunion would ever happen?

"Not really," he said, rationalizing that even without a closing film, the low-rated Western created by David Milch ("NYPD Blue") "had three great years and (the show) would be talked about forever. … We left it to HBO a long time ago: You get a script and we'd love to do it."

Finally, "they got this script together (and) I think they got it right." .

The film, written by Milch and directed by Daniel Minahan, returns to the frontier town in 1889, a decade after the original series was set, as South Dakota nears statehood.

Lawman and hardware store owner Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) is back; so are Alma Ellsworth (Molly Parker), Trixie (Paula Malcomson), hotel owner E.B Farnum (William Sanderson), Sol Star (John Hawkes), Martha Bullock (Anna Gunn) and others. George Hearst (Gerald McRaney) is about to become a U.S. senator.

HBO

"Al's great, but he's a little diminished," McShane says. "Al's had a little too much of that" — he makes a drinking motion with his hand — "over the years. He's not the force he was in the same kind of way."

Even with the passage of time, "It's in a way a continuation from the last episode where he killed the girl (Jen). It’s kind of a memory 10 years later linking into statehood and everything about Bullock," McShane says. "It’s like a reunion, because it's statehood day, Hearst is becoming a senator, Farnum is greasing his wheels and Bullock now has grown-up kids."

The actor found filming "quite moving and emotional. There was a huge set piece in the middle (and) I was in pieces. I looked around and people were crying," he said, adding that some of the emotion came from getting back together with colleagues after such a long time.

Jasper Savage, Starz

"Everybody brought their 'A' game," he said. "They're such tremendous actors and everybody respected each other's work."

After filming his final scene, McShane said he asked, "'Is that it?' They said that was it. It was over in a blink."

He's happy for the "Deadwood" closure and believes the film will be the final word on the project.

"Of course, if it gets 150 million viewers … they'll find a way of bringing something back. Who knows?" he said. "It was a trip to do it. It was a pleasure."

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Highlights from Television Critics Association