This Canceled Western Series Based On A Comic Book Could Have Been A Classic

As Taylor Sheridan’s shows continue to win over audiences, the Western is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance. It’s a shame, then, that Pedro Pascal’s supernatural Western series never got the chance to flourish amid this renewed interest in the genre. “The Sixth Gun” was an adaptation of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s comic book series of the same name, published by Oni Press. Long before he broke through as Din Djarin on “The Mandalorian” and Joel Miller on “The Last of Us,” Pascal would have portrayed a gunslinger in the series, which only made it to the pilot stage before NBC decided not to move forward.

“The Sixth Gun,” which began its publication run in 2010, is set in the 1880s and focuses on six pistols, each conferring some sort of dark, mystical power on its owner. The protagonists, Becky Montcrief and Drake Sinclair, are on a quest to assemble all six magical firearms and safeguard them, all while being pursued by several villains hell-bent on acquiring the weapons for their own nefarious purposes.

In 2011, Syfy was reportedly developing an adaptation of the comic book series. Per a contemporaneous report from Comics Alliance, Oni Press announced the project at Comic Con that year, but nothing came of it. That is, until NBC took over and ordered a pilot episode. This came in the wake of another comic book adaptation, “The Walking Dead,” which had proved hugely popular for AMC, and it seems as though NBC was eager to capitalize. Sadly, while it remains unlikely that “The Sixth Gun” would have entered the pantheon of all-time classic Western shows, we only ever got to see Pascal as a crooked, gunslinging detective in the pilot, which remained unavailable for years.

When he was cast in “The Sixth Gun,” Pedro Pascal was hardly a rookie. He’d already guest-starred on multiple TV shows, including “Homeland,” “CSI,” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and had a recurring role on “The Good Wife” between 2009 and 2011. But “The Sixth Gun” would have marked a significant change in his small-screen fortunes, as it was set to feature Pascal in what would arguably have been his biggest TV role to date.

In 2013, Deadline reported that NBC had ordered a pilot for “The Sixth Gun,” with Ryan Condal, of “House of the Dragon” fame, set to write and executive produce. Soon after, Laura Ramsey was added to the cast ahead of W. Earl Brown, Graham McTavish, Aldis Hodge and Pascal.

Hodge and Pascal were cast as Agent Mercer and Agent Ortega, respectively, two unscrupulous detectives from the Pinkerton investigation agency who are hired by the wealthy Missy Hume (Elena Satine). The pilot (now available on YouTube) features opening title cards that reveal how Hume’s late husband, General Oliander Hume (W. Earl Brown), originally summoned the six guns during the Civil War before being defeated in battle. The guns were then “scattered to the far corners of the American West.” A man named Montcrief (René Auberjonois) managed to obtain the sixth gun, and Ortega and Mercer are tasked with tracking it down and returning it to Hume, who already owns the fifth gun.

Sadly, we never got to see the rest of the story play out, which is a shame because “The Sixth Gun”  might have become one of the best Pedro Pascal TV shows long before “The Mandalorian” or “The Last of Us.”

In “The Sixth Gun” pilot, Montcrief lives on a farm with his daughter, Becky (Laura Ramsey). When Agents Ortega and Mercer show up, the mystical firearm helps fend off the attack. But Montcrief is mortally injured in the skirmish and warns his daughter of the weapon’s power before urging her to destroy it. Gunslingers Drake Sinclair (Michael Huisman) and Bill John O’Henry (James LeGros) help Becky as she’s pursued by the crooked Pinkerton detectives and a newly resurrected General Hume, who alongside his servant Silas Hedgepeth (Graham McTavish) seeks to re-acquire the weapon.

The pilot opens with a great scene in which Silas descends upon the monks protecting General Hume’s tomb and uses the fourth gun to re-animate his former commander and his minions. It’s also sort of unintentionally funny as Silas struts through a graveyard unloading bullets into the final resting places of the soldiers, causing them to pop up like cardboard cutouts.

Alas, on May 8, 2013, news came via The Hollywood Reporter that NBC had declined to pick up the show, and we never saw how its unique blend of supernatural elements with the Old West might play out. Still, Ryan Condal later revealed to /Film how the failed sci-fi western pilot landed him the showrunner gig on “House of the Dragon. According to the writer, the “Sixth Gun” pilot was shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the same place “GoT” author George R.R. Martin calls home. The pair happened to share an agent, so Condal asked to set up a meeting, which ultimately led to the creation of “House of the Dragon.” Meanwhile, a year after “The Sixth Gun” was abandoned by NBC, Pascal made his “Game of Thrones” debut and never looked back.