Anna Daniels
The Last of the Mohicans TV series has finally found a home at HBO Max.
Last April, word came out that filmmaker Cary Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation, True Detective, the upcoming James Bond film No Time to Die) was developing a new adaptation of author James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 novel for Paramount Television, and that the project was searching for an outlet. Nearly a year later, it turns out that the yet-to-launch streaming service HBO Max evidently likes the combination of talent involved, because they’ve given the new retelling a script order. Learn who else is on board this adaptation below.
The Hollywood Reporter says WarnerMedia’s HBO Max has scooped up the project, which is being co-written by Fukunaga and Nick Osborne (Remember Me, All About Steve) and directed by Nicole Kassell. We don’t have many details about the new production yet, but it’s described as “a retelling of Cooper’s French and Indian War novel that re-centers the classic tale on the unlikely romance between Uncas, a young Mohican, and Cora, the mixed-race daughter of a British colonel.”
The book has been adapted for film and TV several times, perhaps most famously by Michael Mann in a 1992 movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Here’s the trailer for that version:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaQeVnN6pUc?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
“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,” Kassell said previously. “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.”
While I’d love to see what Fukunaga might do with this story as a director, I’m equally excited to see Kassell step behind the camera. She has credits on shows like The Killing, Better Call Saul, The Following, The Leftovers, and Westworld, but she’s (rightfully) received a huge profile boost with her incredible work on HBO’s Watchmen – including that jaw-dropping first episode which brought the horrific Tulsa Massacre of 1921 to the eyes of a new generation.
HBO Max will cost $15 per month. It officially debuts this May, and you can read much more about it here. But there’s no word yet about when we can expect to see this series hit the new streaming service.
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