He may not be best known for his contributions to television, but it’s not surprising that Steven Spielberg has produced some outstanding work in the medium. While less celebrated than his film triumphs, Spielberg has been instrumental in bringing several TV series to life, though usually in the role of executive producer. His television credits include a host of animated series such as “Pinky and the Brain,” “Freakazoid!” and “Animaniacs.” But in addition to these, Spielberg once brought a Western miniseries to the small screen that truly captured the scope of his signature cinematic works: “Into the West.”
Made up of six episodes, each with an impressive feature-length runtime, “Into the West” was, in many ways, ahead of its time. A TNT production, the miniseries aired across six weeks in the summer of 2005 with a stacked cast of Hollywood powerhouses — including Josh Brolin, Gil Birmingham, Keri Russell, Beau Bridges, and Lance Henriksen.
While Spielberg did not direct “Into the West,” the miniseries bears the hallmarks of the legendary filmmaker’s cinematic style. An epic that covers the era of westward expansion throughout the 19th century, “Into the West” was told from the dual perspectives of white settler Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle) and Lakota medicine man Loved By the Buffalo (Joseph M. Marshall III). These two men and their families formed the backbone of the series, which spanned several decades between 1825 to 1890.
Into the West is one of Steven Spielberg’s most overlooked projects
Part of what made “Into the West” such an exceptional miniseries that could rival even the best historical TV shows out there is that it didn’t keep these stories entirely apart. When Wheeler married Loved By the Buffalo’s sister, Thunder Heart Woman (Tonantzin Carmelo), their family stories became intertwined, though they remained underpinned by the conflict between the two men’s ambitions. While Wheeler sought to make his fortune on the frontier in search of the American Dream, Loved By the Buffalo hoped to preserve his people’s way of life in the face of the colonizers’ spread throughout America.
Though it has largely been forgotten to time, “Into the West” won two Emmys in its day and bagged nine wins at the Online Film & Television Association Awards, including best miniseries. With accolades such as these, this one could easily make it onto the list of the best Western television shows of all time. Unfortunately, “Into the West” faded out of pop culture relevance as the wild frontier faded from civilization. Perhaps WEST, the all-Western network, will air it down the line.