HBO gives up on Lewis And Clark, will explore the western U.S. later

By Sam Barsanti | February 3, 2016 | 11:57pm

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In what would probably be a good setup for a person who knows a lot about history to make some really witty jokes, The Hollywood Reporter says that HBO is “all but abandoning” its Lewis And Clark miniseries. The project has been in development at HBO for a long time, but it actually started moving forward almost exactly a year ago. Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, and Edward Norton were among the producers, and Casey Affleck and Matthias Schoenaerts were set to star as the eponymous explorers. In August, though, HBO “temporarily” shut down production when the director and director of photography both left the project over “creative differences.” Filming was apparently supposed to resume in the spring, but now that’s not happening.

Instead, HBO is going to “redevelop” the project with original writer (and Masters Of Sex showrunner) Michelle Ashford writing a new draft of the script. Once that’s done, HBO will have to see if any of the existing footage is usable, which seems hugely unlikely since neither Affleck nor Schoenaerts will necessarily stick with the project when/if it comes back. Also, THR points out that Tanaya Beatty, who was supposed to play Sacagawea, just became a series regular on NBC’s Night Shift, so she’ll probably be too busy for this.