Products You May Like
Science fiction and Westerns are a natural pair. Both genres are built around frontiers, whether that means settlers crossing untamed deserts or explorers venturing into unknown regions of space and time. Television has experimented with this combination for decades, with Firefly bringing space cowboys and Old West politics together in 2002. Westworld revived the formula for a new generation in 2016, while The Mandalorian and Fallout have since given us very different takes on futuristic frontier life.
Westworld is among the few sci-fi Westerns that made an immediate impression. Its first season remains a remarkable achievement, blending a sprawling mystery, philosophical questions about artificial intelligence, and a Western setting with some exceptional performances. Unfortunately, the subsequent seasons struggled to maintain that quality. HBO eventually canceled the series after four seasons, leaving the story unfinished. Prime Video, meanwhile, has a sci-fi Western that makes a compelling case in just 16 episodes.
‘Outer Range’ Turns A Wyoming Ranch Into Television’s Most Fascinating Sci-Fi Mystery
Created by Brian Watkins, Outer Range follows Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin), a Wyoming rancher trying to protect his family’s land from the increasingly hostile Tillerson family. His already complicated life takes a bizarre turn when a mysterious black void appears on his property. The enormous, bottomless void becomes the center of a mystery involving missing people, strange visions, and the possibility of traveling through time.
The premise has some familiar Western ingredients. There is a territorial dispute, a family struggling to preserve its legacy, a rivalry between neighboring ranchers, and a sheriff with a moral dilemma. However, Outer Range gives these conventions a fascinating sci-fi twist.
The void connects different periods in history, turning the Abbott family’s buried secrets into something bigger. Royal’s discovery that he once traveled from 1886 to 1968 also establishes that the mystery has been shaping his life for a long time.
Brolin is phenomenal as Royal. He brings the kind of weathered authority you would expect from a Western patriarch while allowing his character’s fear and vulnerability to emerge gradually. Imogen Poots is equally compelling as Autumn, an enigmatic drifter who seems to know more about Royal’s land than she lets on. She harbors an unpredictable mixture of curiosity, desperation, and menace.
Meanwhile, Lili Taylor’s Cecelia, Tom Pelphrey’s Perry, Lewis Pullman’s Rhett, and Will Patton’s Wayne Tillerson add tension to the family conflict. Tamara Podemski also deserves special recognition as Deputy Sheriff Joy Hawk, whose investigation takes her into an entirely different period of the American West. Overall, even while dealing with time travel and temporal paradoxes, Outer Range remains focused on people.
Instead Of Escaping The Western, ‘Outer Range’ Doubles Down On It
-
Prime Video -
Prime Video -
Amazon MGM
Outer Range and Westworld are extremely different in how they approach their science fiction concepts. Both shows introduce strange phenomena into Western environments, but Westworld expands beyond its first season. The story moves further away from the park and examines artificial consciousness, technological control, and the future of humanity. While the ambition is admirable, Outer Range stands out because it keeps returning to the same question of what happens when the past refuses to stay buried.
No matter how unbelievable its mythology becomes, Outer Range never stops being a Western. Land wars, rodeos, family feuds, and generational grudges remain essential pieces of the narrative. Season 2 makes particularly good use of that idea; Deputy Joy finds herself transported to 1880s Wyoming, where she encounters Shoshone communities and experiences life on the historical frontier.
Deputy Joy’s storyline gives the underrated sci-fi series an opportunity to explore the Western genre beyond the usual ranching families. Meanwhile, Perry’s journey through the void creates increasingly complicated consequences for the Abbott family, and Autumn’s connection to Royal’s granddaughter, Amy, turns their conflict into something disturbing.
There’s also a refreshing commitment to the physical landscape. The vast Wyoming ranches, isolated roads, and dusty settlements give Outer Range the visual aesthetic of a Western. The void feels like an unsettling anomaly in this recognizable environment. However, it does not replace the frontier. In fact, the void makes the frontier look even more mysterious.
Westworld might have a stronger first season, but Outer Range refuses to outgrow its premise. Across 16 episodes, it builds an intriguing mythology without needing four increasingly expansive seasons to tell one story. Outer Range was canceled after Season 2, so several major mysteries remain unresolved. Still, the two available seasons offer plenty. For anyone who misses the original appeal of Westworld, Outer Range has a frontier worth visiting.
- Release Date
-
2022 – 2024-00-00
- Network
-
Amazon Prime Video