Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga - Everything we know so far

When Kevin Costner didn't find a way for his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga, he went out and funded it himself. The idea that began taking shape in 1988 came into being in May 2024, when the first chapter of the saga premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

The purpose of the film remains simple: Kevin wants his viewers to know the true history of the American frontier, which we are used to knowing as the Wild West. He has already invested a lot in it—$38 million to be precise, as he told the monthly men's magazine GQ in one interview. However, the number has gone far beyond that now.

He even told Siena Miller, who plays Frances Kittredge in the film, that,

I will show you an America you have only dreamed of.

Now that it is in full swing, the entire franchise is set to feature a four-part story set against the backdrop of the American Civil War that stretched from April 12, 1861, to May 26, 1865. Two films are already up and running, though the second is yet to get a global release, and now two await their release.

What is the current state of Horizon: An American Saga?

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 begins with the establishment of the town of Horizon. It stars Sam Worthington as First Lt. Trent Gephardt, Giovanni Ribisi as H. Silas Pickering, Owen Crow Shoe as Pionsenay, and more. The film has a runtime of over 3 hours, though all the movies were meant to be around 2 hours and 45 minutes long.

Critically, it failed to bind a spell as it stands as one average movie, with Rotten Tomatoes rating it 51%, while IMDb has a better rating with 6.7 out of 10. It didn't perform the way the creators had thought of it so they had to delay the second film in the franchise, where the story picks up from the end of chapter one.

The second chapter in Horizon: An American Saga doesn't have a release date yet but it premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 7, 2024. It holds a lower rating than the first on Rotten Tomatoes but is better on IMDb at the time of writing.

What's happening with the rest of the films?

The project is too important for Costner, which is clear by the fact that he chose to pursue his Wild West cowboy instead of modern John Dutton in Yellowstone, for which he received a Golden Globe award. With that said the third and fourth films are being developed, though the dual strikes in 2023 did become an obstacle.

Regarding Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 3, Kevin Costner told Deadline that it would be devastating. He said,

If there’s anything that you expect from Part 2, you realize that 2 gets harder than 1. It’s hard to go west. Three is the same thing. It gets harder. But I will tell you this, Chapter 3 is devastating

Details for Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 4 are thin on the ground but scripts for all the films are in place. Production for the final saga is likely to commence early this year, as Costner has said he will likely shoot the final two chapters back to back in spring 2025.

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