Joel and Ethan Coen are expanding to television with a limited anthology Western series titledThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The acclaimed filmmakers will direct the project from their own original script and concept, Variety reports.
The Coens will partner with Annapurna Pictures to reportedly aim for an innovative approach that could combine television and theatrical. According to Variety, Buster Scruggs proved too challenging to adapt into a single film, so the directors intend to shoot the project as a miniseries.
No concrete plot details are available about the series, which is set in the Old West and weaves together six separate storylines. The Coens previously explored the genre with the 2007 neo-Western thriller No Country for Old Men and 2010s True Grit.
The versatile Coens most recently wrote and directed the 2016 comedy Hail Ceasar!, starring Josh Brolin as a 1950s Hollywood fixer. The duo also wrote the screenplay for the George Clooney-helmed Suburbicon, which began filming in October.
Since launching in 2011, Annapurna has produced an eclectic range of projects, both mainstream (Seth Rogens raunchy animated comedy Sausage Party) and experimental (Harmony Korines satirical crime-drama Spring Breakers). The company recently began pre-production on a limited series adaptation of Maria Semples 2016 novel, Today Will Be Different, starring Julia Roberts.