How To Watch Lawmen: Bass Reeves & What To Expect
After telling a series of fictional stories about the building of the West from the point of view of the Dutton family, Taylor Sheridan is taking on a real-life tale: that of the first Black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi in "Lawman: Bass Reeves." Created and co-showrun by Chad Feehan and directed by Damian Marcano, the Paramount + drama is slated to let the whole world know about Bass' legendary life as a lawman, which spanned decades and involved him bringing in over 3,000 perps without incurring a single injury.
The series is helmed by David Oyelowo as Reeves, and sports a cast that also includes Dennis Quaid, Demi Singleton, Barry Pepper, Lauren E. Banks, Forrest Goodluck, Lonnie Chavis, Heather Kafka, and Donald Sutherland. Only Singleton, Banks, and Sutherland will be portraying real-life characters. Singleton plays Reeves' daughter, Sally, Banks plays his wife, Jennie, and Sutherland plays the legendary Judge Isaac Parker, who became so infamous in Oklahoma Territory's courtrooms he was dubbed "the Hanging Judge."
How can you watch the show, and what's it about? Here's the skinny on all of the action, heartbreaking drama, and fascinating character work waiting for anyone excited to stream "Lawman: Bass Reeves."
What is Lawman: Bass Reeves About?
As noted above, "Lawman: Bass Reeves" follows the titular hero as he goes about capturing some 3,000 wrongdoers during his time in the law enforcement profession. And it doesn't just start with his time riding the range. It follows him from his origin point as a slave in Arkansas, through his escape from bondage during the Civil War, his time in Oklahoma — where he made friends with various Indigenous tribes and was in turn taught survival skills — and his return to Arkansas to start a small farm in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation. There, he reunites with his wife, Jennie, and children, Sally and Bennie.
Along the way, viewers watch Reeves leave farming behind after being appointed to a judgeship back in Oklahoma — what was then called Indian Territory. From Oklahoma to Texas and back again, Reeves becomes the last word in justice in the territory. He forms a fierce reputation due to his keen mind, investigative skills, and his utter incorruptibility. Ultimately family conflicts arrive, forcing Reeves to decide where he stands and whether justice or the people he has come to love more than anything in the world means more to him.
Audiences can expect action and drama in equal amounts. After all, Reeves may have been one of the inspirations for "The Lone Ranger."
Where to watch Lawman: Bass Reeves and how many episodes are there?
"Bass Reeves: Lawman" is a Paramount + exclusive and original, so all eight episodes of the series will debut there. The first two parts were uploaded on November 5, and each subsequent installment will arrive on the streamer every Sunday. The series will apparently skip releasing an installment on November 19, which is Thanksgiving week. With that in mind, and the likelihood that the show will skip dropping an episode for two weeks in observation of the Christmas and New Year holidays, viewers can expect the series to roll out its final installment sometime in January 2024, unless two episodes are uploaded in the same week for its finale.
Similar to "Yellowstone" and other Sherridan-verse series "Bass Reeves: Lawman" will also get a special presentation on CBS. Viewers can catch the first two episodes of the series on Sunday, November 12 at 9 p.m. ET.
Are Yellowstone and Lawmen: Bass Reeves Connected?
That likely leaves audiences with one last question: is "Lawman: Bass Reeves" somehow connected to the long, overarching tale of the Duttons and the "Yellowstone" world? While all of the casting notices posted so far to IMDb indicate that none of the Duttons will appear, and the series is no longer being billed as an offshoot of "1883" as it was during its initial pre-production phase, at least one member of the show's crew believes that it might be interconnected.
"I'll give it to you like this: I tell people... 'You know, Taylor Sheridan poured gasoline on my fire.' So, yes, I think it's a part of the 'Yellowstone' world in the fact that Taylor obviously has the largest stage right now, as far as someone who is creating episodic, large things. Right? Big faces, big names that you see on the small screen," said series director Damian Marcano to Digital Spy in November 2023. He added that he considers "Bass Reeves" to be a cousin series to "Yellowstone" and said it was a part of Sheridan's galaxy of shows like "Tulsa King" and "Lioness," which have nothing to do with the "Yellowstone" world proper, but still bear Sheridan's creative stamp.
The two series will, at the very least, actually share an actor. Mo Brings Plenty, who regularly appears on "Yellowstone," will show up on "Bass Reeves: Lawman" as a new character named Minko. Might Minko be an ancestor of Mo's? The jury's still out.