A ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ TV Series Is In The Works From Cary Joji Fukunaga & Nicole Kassell
‘Maniac’ & ‘True Detective’ writer/director Cary Joji Fukunaga has teamed up with tv & film director Nicole Kassell to bring us as ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ series it has been announced.
Whilst most people will know ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ as the movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, that was only the latest in a long line of adaptations based on the 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The new series will also use the novel as the basis for the drama, which centres on the French and Indian War, and follows an unlikely romance between a young Mohican called Uncas, and Cora, the mixed-race daughter of a British colonel. The drama comes from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content and will be written by Fukunaga, alongside Nicholas Osborne, with Kassell directing.
“The clash of civilizations during the Seven Years War, which frames the story of ‘Last of the Mohicans,’ has been a long-time passion of mine,” commented Fukanaga. “It was a world war before the term even existed. The opportunity to recreate the story’s strong-willed and free-thinking characters, with talents including Nick Osborne and Nicole Kassell, is incredibly exciting to me. Together with Paramount TV and Anonymous Content, we have the chance to revive the forgotten ancestors that define American identity today.”
Fukunaga wrote and directed seasons 1 & 3 of ‘True Detective’ (i.e. the good seasons), along with Netflix’s wonderfully odd ‘Maniac’, and wrote the Netflix series ‘The Alienist’. He is currently directing “Bond 25”, the next James Bond movie. Kassell is an extremely experienced tv director responsible for episodes of ‘The Americans’, ‘The Following’, ‘Castle Rock’, ‘Westworld’, ‘The Killing’ and ‘The Leftovers’. Her latest project has been helming the pilot of HBO’s much anticipated ‘Watchmen’ series. Fukunaga, Osborne and Kassell will exec produce along with Anonymous Content’s Alex Goldstone (‘Dickinson’) and Bard Dorros (‘True Detective’) and Michael Sugar from ‘Maniac’ producer Sugar23 Productions.
“I am profoundly excited to be a part of this extraordinary team and to be bringing a new light and perspective to this period in our history,” adds Kassell. “While the James Fenimore Cooper book and original film leave large shoes to fill, Nick and Cary’s script is a riveting read and fresh take. They embrace this incredible opportunity to show and explore characters so often marginalized. To echo a sentiment Nick expressed to me in our first conversation ‘certain stories are timeless vessels that allow different generations to look at it and explore them in different ways.’ To be a part of bringing these eyes and hearts to the screen is the opportunity of a lifetime for me.”
‘The Last of the Mohicans’ has had 11 versions of the story made for screen already across tv and film. The first was way back in 1911 starring James Cruze, then there was a film in the 1920s, another movie and film serial in the 1930s, a US tv series in the ’50s, and a BBC adaptation in 1971. The Daniel Day-Lewis & Madeleine Stowe film version in 1992 is probably the one best known to audiences today.
As this is still early in the development, there is no casting or air dates yet for ‘The Last of the Mohicans’, but we’ll let you know if and when we hear more.
