For the better part of the past half-decade, Kevin Costner has devoted the lion’s share of his time to the incredibly popular Yellowstone series – Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western about a family going to war with anyone and everyone to keep what’s theirs. Though we don’t yet know what the future holds for the Paramount Network original, the show’s star is preparing to release a passion project a long time in the making: Horizon: An American Saga.
In summer 2024, Costner will give the world his fourth directorial effort and first since 2003’s Open Range with a blistering western epic set during one of the United States’ most tumultuous periods. If this is the first you’re hearing of it, don’t worry, because we’re about to break down everything we know about Horizon: An American Saga, including its release date, cast, and several other aspects of the upcoming movie.
What Is The Horizon: An American Saga Release Date?
Horizon: An American Saga appears to be an epic comparable to Kevin Costner’s Best Picture winner Dances with Wolves, as it will be released in two parts. Chapter 1 is set to open in theaters on June 28, 2024, while Chapter 2 comes out nearly two months later on August 16, 2024.
As it stands, the film’s first chapter shares a date with the upcoming A Quiet Place: Day One on the 2024 movie schedule, with the second part opening up along with Alien: Romulus.
The Horizon: An American Saga Cast Includes Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthingon, And More
Though Warner Bros. has yet to reveal the identities of the characters in Horizon: An American Saga, the studio has identified the members of the massive and remarkable cast that will be surrounding Kevin Costner in his upcoming epic. Joining Costner at the top of the call sheet are Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington, who are best known for roles in movies like American Sniper and Avatar, respectively.
But that’s just the beginning, as the movie will also feature the talents of Jena Malone (Costner’s co-star from the all-time great baseball movie For Love of the Game), Owen Crow Shoe, Abby Lee, Danny Huston, Isabell Fuhrman, Thomas Haden Church, Tatanka Means, Luke Wilson, Michael Rooker, Ella Hunt, Will Patton, Wasé Winyan Chief, Glynn Turman, Giovanni Ribisi, and many, many more.
The Horizon: An American Saga Trailer Features Vast Open Spaces, Unrelenting Violence And So Many Characters
In February 2024, we finally got a proper look at Kevin Costner’s upcoming Western with the first Horizon: An American Saga trailer. This epic, three-minute trailer had a lot going for it with vast open spaces, brutal and unrelenting depictions of violence, and more characters than anyone can count. Massive in every way imaginable, this epic preview of things to come for the story set in the American West, the trailer also gave us plenty of shots of Costner’s still unnamed character kicking ass, taking names, and riding horses:
If you’re a fan of all-time great Westerns, epic stories concerning both the freedom and raw brutality of the frontier, or films where Kevin Costner has a mustache and a grump sensibility, then you’ll feel right at home with Horizon: An American Saga this summer.
The Two-Part Saga Will Explore The Old West And Is Set During The American Civil War
When Horizon: An American Saga is released in theaters, it will explore the appeal of the Old West during a time of rapid expansion and settlement of the once-wild landscape and frontier (per Warner Bros.). Much like Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves, his latest project will also be set during the American Civil War – a bloody and transformative period in the country’s history.
The specifics of the plot and how the Civil War fits into it have yet to be revealed at the time of this article's publication, but we should know more details about Horizon: An American Saga in the coming weeks and months.
Kevin Costner Directed Horizon: An American Saga And Co-Wrote Its Screenplay With Jon Baird
n addition to starring in Horizon: An American Saga and serving as its director, Kevin Costner also co-wrote the upcoming epic alongside writer Jon Baird. Interestingly enough, though this is Costner’s fourth time sitting in the director’s chair, Horizon was the first screenplay the multi-talented Hollywood star has written in his career. This will also be Baird’s first script for a feature film.
Horizon: An American Saga Is Rated R
Considering the fact that two of his three movies (Dances with Wolves being the outlier) have been rated R, it shouldn’t be all that surprising to find out that Horizon: An American Saga will have an R-rating when it begins its theatrical rollout this summer. According to FilmRatings.com, the MPA gave Horizon this rating based on its depictions of violence, nudity, and sexuality.
This makes total sense based on the violent nature of the Western genre as well as footage we’ve seen from the movie in its various teasers and trailers up to this point. It’s doubtful we see anything as over-the-top as in Bone Tomahawk or Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian novel, but it definitely doesn’t look like something for younger audiences.
Kevin Costner Has Been Trying To Make Horizon: An American Saga Since 1988
It isn’t that uncommon for actors and filmmakers to spend years or decades working on one specific project in hopes of turning their dreams into reality. That happens to be the case for Kevin Costner with Horizon: An American Saga, as he first contemplated its idea back in 1988, before he made his debut as a director.
In a May 2023 joint interview with Francis Ford Coppola, whose upcoming Megapolis has been gestating for years, Costner told Deadline about the struggles he’s faced in getting the movie made:
I commissioned this story in 1988. Single movie, two-hander. A conventional Western with a beginning, middle, and end. I couldn’t get anybody to make it. Then, right after I made Open Range and it performed pretty well, I had a chance with Disney. We had a $5 million difference. They had had a lot of money success with Open Range, but a $5 million difference kept them from making this movie. … Eight years later, I started thinking about the story, started writing with a partner, and it ended up being four screenplays. So I reverse-engineered everything from 1988. I thought it was really good. But I still couldn’t get anybody to make it.
That’s a long time. In fact, most of Costner’s best movies have come out since he first started work on Horizon some 35 years ago.
Horizon: An American Saga Could Include Up To Four Chapters
Though we only have release dates for the first and second chapters of Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga, the actor/director has stated in the past that he would like to make up to four movies before concluding his longtime passion project. In June 2022, he told Variety that the epic is being planned as four different movies, but nearly two years later, only two installments have been filmed. In October 2023, The Hollywood Reporter reported that production had been put on hold due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and there haven’t been any updates on the status of the film, or a possible fourth chapter, since.
That being said, it remains unclear how things will shake out for the final two planned installments in the film franchise, but hopefully, we learn more about the second half of Costner’s epic in the months to come.
Expect to hear a lot more about Horizon: An American Saga very soon, but in the meantime, don’t forget to check out our rundown of the best Westerns of all time.
