Steven Spielberg Says ‘Lincoln’ Was Almost A 6-Hour Series With HBO & Says He Will Eventually Make A TV Series

It’s not hyperbole to say Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live. The director has won three Oscars and has been nominated for dozens more prestigious awards. Not only that, but he’s responsible for some of the biggest pop culture icons in film history, thanks to works such as “Jaws,” “Indiana Jones,” “Jurassic Park,” and many, many more. And he shows no signs of slowing down. But with many of his colleagues making the leap over to TV, with studios becoming more dependent on franchise filmmaking for theatrical release, would Spielberg ever consider ditching the big screen for a limited series gig? The answer is somewhat surprising.

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Obviously, Steven Spielberg is no stranger to working on TV series. The filmmaker has produced a number of TV series over the years, including his award-winning war epic, “Band of Brothers.” But he has yet to fully commit to directing a full limited series, which seems to be all the rage nowadays. When asked if he’s ever interested in doing his own sort of prestige limited series for TV, as part of his interview on the Smartless podcast, Steven Spielberg explained that he has been toying around with that idea for years now.

“I was willing to do ‘Lincoln’ as a six-hour [show] because I couldn’t raise all the financing for it,” explained Spielberg. “No one believed in it…I went around town and everyone turned me down.”

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He added, “I was ready to make a deal with HBO to do it and expand it to six hours. Tony Kushner’s first draft was 150 pages, so I had the goods! I had the material. I don’t know if I could have talked Daniel Day-Lewis into doing six hours, but I was on the brink of that.”

With him toying with the idea of doing “Lincoln” as a TV series more than a decade ago, it’s clear that Spielberg is not scared of tackling a limited series. It would appear that he’s just waiting for the right offer. 

“I do have an appetite for long-form, and someday, I will direct a long-form series,” he said. “I mean, if someone would have brought me ‘Mare of Easttown,’ I would have done that. [Laughs] That was a beautifully directed story.” 

Listening to Spielberg make that last comment, it almost sounds as if the filmmaker is sounding the alarm that he’s willing to do TV and people can start pitching him ideas. Hell, even though “Mare of Easttown” is an acclaimed series that won all sorts of awards, you have to assume HBO would have liked to know that Spielberg would be interested in directing, right? How many other limited series would have loved having a director of that caliber behind the camera but just assumed Spielberg wouldn’t be interested? 

So, while there aren’t any plans in place, at the moment, it would be a safe assumption to say that Steven Spielberg will be working on a TV series in the future. We’ll just have to wait and see what project lands the iconic director.