Justified executive producer Chris Provenzano has signed an overall deal with AMC. Under the pact, he already is working on a drama series project, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1979 novel Gunsights. This makes it a nice continuation for Provenzano, who spent the last five years on FX drama Justified, based on Leonard’s novella Fire In The Hole.

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Considered Leonard’s final Western novel, Gunsights, set in 1893, centers on two tough men and friends, scout Dana Moon and Army man Brendan Early, who used to work together, including a mission chasing an Apache chief into Mexico. Now, the two former partners are on the opposite sides of a conflict between a mining company and a scattering of settlers on an Arizona mountainside: Apaches, Mexicans, and former 10th Cavalry regulars. Brendan is employed by the mining company attempting to drive the settlers out of their homes, while Dana is an Indian agent, defending them.

This marks Provenzano‘s return to AMC where he was among the original writers on the first season of the network’s first original drama series, Mad Men. One of the episodes he wrote, “The Hobo Code”, earned him a WGA Award nomination. WME-repped Provenzano joined Justified in Season 1, rising through the ranks to executive producer. On the feature side, he wrote the 2009 film Get Low.

Launching a new Western series to succeed Hell On Wheels has been a priority for AMC. The network has had success on Saturdays with old Western movies and the Western-themed Hell On Wheels, which is set to bow out after a 14-episode fifth and final season split into two parts to air this and next summer.

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