HBO unveils new shows, talks Deadwood film

HBO’s programming chief Michael Lombardo has confirmed a Deadwood movie is moving forward, with David Milch, the creator of the hit Western series, having submitted an outline of how a feature would unfold.

HBO said last year there were early discussions with Milch and Lombardo told US website TV Line yesterday that the project is moving forward. The original Deadwood TV show ran for three seasons, and talk of a feature film was first mentioned when it was cancelled.

Meanwhile, HBO has unveiled its new series and docs line-up.

On the drama front and from HBO Films, there is Confirmation. The Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich)-penned TV movie follows a law professor who accuses a Supreme Court nominee of sexual harassment.

Another HBO film is All the Way, starring Bryan Cranston as US president Lyndon B. Johnson. The Breaking Bad star is reprising the role he first played in the Broadway production of the same name.

HBO also said the new season of signature series Game of Thrones will launch on April 24, the same night as new runs of other returning series Silicon Valley and Veep.

The highlight of the docs line-up for the first six months of 2016 is Jim: The James Foley Story, following events surrounding the kidnap and killing of the titular US photojournalist.

A related doc touching on Islamic terrorism is Homegrown: the Counter-Terror Dilemma. It is an insider’s account of how the US counter-terrorism operation came into being. A third terror-related factual project, Three Days of Terror: the Charlie Hebdo Attacks, documents the attack on the French satirical magazine.

There is also Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, marking the anniversary of the iconic holocaust project Shoah, and docs about director/producer Mike Nicholls, gospel star and civil rights activist Mavis Staples, writer Nora Ephron, and the super-rich Vanderbilt family.