David Oyelowo on bringing the story of Bass Reeves back to life in Lawmen series

"From my research, I actually don't think that he was the inspiration," Oyelowo admits.

"But what I would say is, when you look at the Lone Ranger, Bass Reeves is probably the only historical figure worthy of the comparison. And I think that, in and of itself, is significant."

After escaping slavery during the US Civil War, Reeves went on the run and learnt Native American languages, before being freed and hired as a US deputy marshal in 1875, the first Black man to hold the position west of the Mississippi River.

Over his 32-year career, he was rumoured to have apprehended more than 3,000 criminals, and became a legend for never being injured — despite having his hat shot from his head more than once.

Reeves's tale has been touched on before on TV, most recently in Sky Atlantic's Watchmen, Around the World in 80 Days on BBC1, and the Netflix film The Harder They Fall, but he's never been a central figure — and Oyelowo thinks that, given his achievements, he's been unfairly forgotten by history.

"The only reason I can find why we haven't had myriad Bass Reeves movies and TV shows, and animated-this, that and the other is because he's Black and the fact that those narratives have been marginalised."

Now though, Reeves's story is firmly centre stage in the new Paramount+ drama, Lawmen: Bass Reeves (a spin-off of sorts from the streamer's popular Yellowstone series and prequel 1883), which co-stars Donald Sutherland, Dennis Quaid and Garrett Hedlund and was filmed in Fort Worth, Texas.

"Whether it's the production design, costumes, hair, make-up, the script itself, an enormous amount of work has gone into making sure it's as historically accurate as possible," Oyelowo says. "The other day, we had so many horses and wagons and 305 extras on set, but between each take there was only a two to three-minute reset before everything was back in position and ready to shoot again."

In other words, it's been a mammoth undertaking to finally bring Reeves's story back to life — and the star says that it's only in the current climate that such a project could have happened.

"It's taken the sheer amount of cultural shifts that we have witnessed recently. Not only for there to be a desire to tell the story, but the desire to tell it on this scale."

Lawmen: Bass Reeves launches on Paramount+ with its first two episodes on Sunday 5th November 2023. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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