Over the last decade, we’ve seen so many DC Comics projects come and go, from the big screen to the small screen, various reasons contributed to their demise. It’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the ones that were announced for development given that so many haven’t crossed the finish line as Warner Bros. has changed hands multiple times recently and not every film or series survives the new regime.
“Yellowstone” actor Gil Birmingham recently spoke with The Playlist on the Yellowstoners podcast (listen below), where he reminded us about his previous involvement with WGN America‘s “Scalped.” A somewhat forgotten series adaptation of the DC Vertigo graphic novel that was being written by Doug Jung (“Banshee“) with directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi overseeing the pilot episode (directing duo has since worked on “Ms. Marvel” and the scrapped “Batgirl” film). Birmingham also brought up that “Reservation Dogs” creator Sterlin Harjo was going to be involved as a producer, long before he teamed with Taika Waititi to make his hit comedic Hulu series.
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“A lot of people don’t know this because the show had a destiny of its own. But I had worked with Sterlin Harjo, who’s one of the producers of ‘Reservation Dogs,’” Birmingham said. “This was right before ‘Yellowstone,’ and we did a DC graphic novel book called, ‘Scalped.’ And it was all indigenous cast, so we thought we were going to be groundbreaking then and the networks made some purchases of each other and they dropped all their dramas, but I guess the industry wasn’t ready for it just yet – but they sure are now!”
The other cast members on “Scalped” included Alex Meraz, Lily Gladstone from Martin Scorsese‘s upcoming crime thriller “Killers of The Flower Moon,” Irene Bedard (“The New World“), and Chaske Spence.
As mentioned by Birmingham, the Indigenous-led show didn’t come together as planned but seems like there is now an authentic appetite as audiences are becoming more welcoming for diverse television projects. Perhaps, with James Gunn and Peter Safran now overseeing DC Studios they could eventually circle back to “Scalped” or at least a new version of it but with the same creatives.
Here is how Deadline described the comic book project back in 2017:
“‘Scalped’ was a modern-day crime story set in the world of a Native American reservation. The hourlong drama explores power, loyalty, and spirituality in a community led by the ambitious Chief Lincoln Red Crow (Birmingham) as he reckons with Dashiell Bad Horse (Meraz), who has returned home after years away from the reservation.”
Interestingly enough, Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi spoke to THR recently and indicated that while official talks haven’t started about their return to DC but “meetings are in the books.” While they might not have the stomach for another attempt at “Batgirl,” maybe, they can convince DC Studios to give “Scalped” another shot given how popular Harjo’s “Reservation Dogs” has become and Marvel also assembling a strong Indigenous cast for its “Hawkeye” spinoff show, “Echo.” We’ll keep our fingers crossed the crime show gets another shot at getting made as it certainly feels like it could be a good fit at HBO or Max.
You can listen to that full chat with Birmingham below: