EPIX has set an April 24, 2022 premiere date for Billy the Kid starring Tom Blyth (The Gilded Age) as the famous outlaw. A lengthy official trailer for the series, which is described as an epic romantic adventure, debuted during EPIX’s Television Critics Association winter panel.
Billy the Kid comes from writer/executive producer Michael Hirst (Vikings, The Tudors) who says Billy the Kid has always been a hero of his since childhood. “I grew up in the North of England but it made no difference! Billy was a special kind of outlaw. For a start he was so young – and for another thing, he wasn’t a psychopath who enjoyed killing, nor a criminal who robbed for material gain. He was an outlaw most of his life, but he never wanted to be. Born into a poor Irish family of immigrants, he always wanted to go straight, to be a ‘new American.’ But he was never allowed to.
Billy’s story is much more than a fantastic drama about a charismatic cowboy – although it is that! It’s also the story of the immigrant, and the story of the creation of the new America from the lawless, violent chaos of the mid-West and its many nations. So in the end it’s not just a story at all – it’s an American myth!” said Hirst.
Joining Hirst as executive producers on season one are De Line Pictures’ Donald De Line; Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television; and Otto Bathurst, and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture.
Billy the Kid is a co-production between EPIX Studios and MGM International Television Productions, in association with Nordic Entertainment Groups streaming service Viaplay.
EPIX released the following description of Billy the Kid:
The eight-episode season comprised of hour-long episodes is an epic romantic adventure based on the life of famous American outlaw Billy the Kid (Blyth), also known as William H. Bonney — from his humble Irish roots, to his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond. Daniel Webber (The Dirt, Escape From Pretoria) will play Jesse Evans, another famous outlaw and leader of the Seven Rivers Gang. When they meet, Jesse has already embraced a life of crime: robbing stores and cattle rustling. Billy is attracted to his wild and reckless character and becomes Billy’s doppelganger of sorts — his shadow self, forever inviting him over to the dark side of life.
