NBC Orders ‘The Sixth Gun’ Pilot, Jeffrey Reiner to Direct [Updated]

UPDATE: Deadline reports that Jeffrey Reiner will direct the pilot. Reiner previously directed David E. Kelley’s unaired Wonder Woman pilot. Other credits include Awake, Trauma and Friday Night Lights.

6gunbanner

Last night, Deadline reported that Carlton Cuse’s The Sixth Gun adaptation is among a handful of pilots ordered by NBC. We first heard about the project two summers ago at San Diego Comic Con 2011 when it was listed as a Syfy series. Oni’s occult western saga by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt seemed a natural for a network looking for a sorely-needed Battlestar Galactica replacement. At that time, we were told the show had breezed past even the pilot stage with an immediate six episode order. But nothing ever surfaced. Then we got a bit of an update last October with Lost alum Carlton Cuse attached as producer. Now we’ve got a script in place from feature writer Ryan Condal (who’s also got something called Queen & Country listed as in development on his IMDB page).

As for casting, we’ve actually offered two different scenarios since the original announcement.


Comments

  1. The Sixth Gun is arguably one of the best comics currently being published, yet it barely scrapes the bottom of the Diamond top 300. I hope the TV exposure will change that.

  2. I love The Sixth Gun. The first six issue arc is insanely epic. I hope nothing but the best comes out of this.

  3. Great news! I hope it gets filmed and broadcast. And then I hope the comic series gets finished before the TV series catches up (much like people are worried about with Game of Thones).

  4. I thoroughly enjoyed the first trade of Sixth Gun. If the show can capture the feel of that first trade, then I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

  5. Very cool! I’m not entirely caught up on The Sixth Gun, but I’ve really enjoyed it so far. I read the first three trades through Comixology, and Brian Hurtt’s layouts were one of the best “guided view” experiences I’ve seen so far. Highly recommended.

  6. I’m really not feeling NBC doing this. I fear they will drop the ball.

    • People seem to like Revolution and I could see this being on a similar scale/budget. I’m hopeful and in the end the Locke and Key pilot not getting picked up hasn’t hurt my enjoyment of that series at all so there is very little downside risk in this case.

  7. I can’t believe that a free comic book day issue is going to pay for my nice steak and lobster. I’m 3 trades into this now and its great stuff. This creative team is so deserving of this.

    • I don’t mean to be a dick, but since when is a Free Comic Book day reprint ever worth anything? I see people TRYING to sell them on eBay… I don’t see people buying.

      I especially like the TMNT reprint selling for $200. Good luck ebayers.

    • Hey JesseCuster, no not a problem at all.

      Free Comic Book Day in 2010 was May1st. The Oni Press FCBD Sixth Gun issue premiered in full on this day. The issue was then reprinted 3 months later in July and put on the shelf with a price tag. Crazy! The issue with the price tag is the reprint.

  8. This is one of the best books on the market.

    Love it.

  9. I want to be sitting in front of my flat screen when the premier episode actually airs before I get excited. The first trade I’ve read is some good shit, but I do wonder if it will be undone by production costs like Locke & Key was. I hope not.

    • I forgot about Locke & Key. That was a bummer, but I think cost was a concern, and I’d hate them to scrimp. Although I did read Locke & Key was picked up by Universal for a trilogy of films…

  10. Syfy and NBC are both owned by GE. I suspect NBC trumped Syfy in ordering a pilot because they are a bigger network. I would prefer it be on Syfy, since I think there is less chance of them screwing it up. But it might get a bigger budget with NBC. It’s a trade off. Look how bad the peacock blew it with the Wonder Woman series…

    I hope they do this justice. As others have said, this is a wonderful series, and it deserves a real shot at success. Writer Cullen Bunn is one of the nicest people in comics, and I wish him and Brian Hurtt nothing but success and a big pile of money if this happens. Hopefully this will bring some much-deserved attention to the comic too.

    • I know a couple of SyFy shows have cult followings… but they honestly haven’t had a big ‘hit’ since Battlestar and their decisions of late are extremely questionable. Alphas is just NOW gaining some word of mouth to be honest, and it gets cancelled. Combied with the horrendously stupid name change (how stupid? THere are people now who actually think the genre is spelled ‘syfy’… jesus H…. you know, Brawndo’s got electrolytes).

      So all of that above… I’d say hell no, stay off Syfy if possible…. its a trap!

      And NBC didn’t screw WW, David E. Kelly and Warner Bros. screwed WW by making a piece of crap that he admits himself wasn’t too good. ALL OTHER MAJOR NETWORKS PASSED ON WONDER WOMAN and NBC was their last ditch pitch. I don’t know how that translates into NBC messing it up.

    • I was unaware that Kelly was shopping the pilot around. I thought NBC ordered it.

    • @kennyg: Nope, he shopped it all over town.

    • Like a dirty whore.

  11. I need to read the 1st trade soon, been interested and will definitely watch the show but I wanna read something I heard was really good way before any talk of a tv series.

  12. I am wishing nothing but the best for this. The Sixth Gun is a very underrated series and it always seemed like a perfect choice to be a TV series. But I just don’t trust NBC. Their track record with new shows have been spotty at best and they don’t get ratings like they used too. I’m going to watch this and root for it but I think we should be caustically optimistic here.