Tom Blyth Lands Title Role In Michael Hirst’s ‘Billy The Kid’ Series At EPIX
Young British actor Tom Blyth has landed the leading role in EPIX new ‘Billy The Kid’ drama from ‘Vikings’ creator Michael Hirst it has been announced.
The drama is an epic romantic adventure based on the life of famous American outlaw Billy the Kid, 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.
Whilst Billy the Kid is well known as an infamous outlaw, that was never really his intention. “He wasn’t a psychopath who enjoyed killing, nor a criminal who robbed for material gain,” commented creator Michael Hirst. “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… ”
In this new drama, Billy is portrayed as a young man with a modest demeanour, civility and restraint in his nature, despite being the legendary outlaw. He’s an impressive sure-shot whose gun hand seems to move faster than the eye can see, but he gets no joy from killing, feeling he’s more sinned against than sinning.
Tom Blyth appeared in various theatre, film and tv roles in the UK, before moving to New York to attend Juilliard. Graduating in 2020, he has recently filmed a guest role on HBO’s upcoming series ‘The Gilded Age’, from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, and landed a supporting role on the film ‘Benediction’, written and directed by Terence Davies.
Hirst writes and exec produce the new series, with Donald De Line (De Line Pictures), Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (Amblin Television), and Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie (One Big Picture) also exec producing. No stranger to historical stories, Hirst wrote both the movies ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’, along with the tv series ‘The Tudors’, and the much-beloved ‘Vikings’. He is also creating the upcoming Netflix series ‘Vikings: Valhalla’, a continuation of the epic ‘Vikings’ saga that moves the timeline forward around 100 years.
“Billy’s story is much more than a fantastic drama about a charismatic cowboy – although it is that,” continues Hirst. “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!”
‘Billy The Kid‘ will be produced by EPIX Studios, MGM International Television Productions, De Line Pictures and Amblin Television to Premiere on EPIX in the USA in 2022. We’ve no idea yet where it may land in the UK, but If you want to keep track of this series you can add it via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
