Midnight cowboy: Sky spaghetti western drama Django is broody and brutal

Sky has released a new trailer for its upcoming western epic Django, and we’re so excited for the show we’ve spent the day polishing our spurs in anticipation.

Debuting on Sky Atlantic and streaming service Now February 17, and directed by Francesca Comencini (Gomorrah the Series), the ten-part series is loosely based on the 1966 cult classic spaghetti western by Sergio Corbucci.

The pilot had its world premiere at last year’s Rome Film Festival to considerable whooping and hollering.

Set in Texas in the late 1800s, the series follows the titular cowboy in search of the daughter he thought he’d lost; it stars Matthias Schoenaerts in the role originally made famous by Franco Nero 

Following his daughter’s trail, Django comes upon New Babylon, a town at the bottom of a crater, where all outcasts are welcome and where everyone is equal and free. It’s here that Django discovers that his daughter is alive and set to marry John Ellis, the founder of New Babylon. But all is not as it seems…

The cast includes Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy), Lisa Vicari (Dark), and Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). 

Django is an Italian-French co-production between Sky and Canal+, written by Gomorrah regulars Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli and Max Hurwitz (Manhunt).

Django has had many incarnations. In the Corbucci original, the character was a Confederate soldier turned bounty hunter in the post-Civil War American West. The film was a box office hit, and spawned multiple sequels albeit with different actors wearing Django’s muddy boots.

In 2012’s Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino tells a completely different story, unrelated to the original series, but acknowledging his inspiration. The director says the idea for a revisionist Django came to him while writing a book about Sergio Corbucci.