Saddle Up for Comanche Moon in January 2008
December 19, 2007

Fans of the Western genre will receive a late Christmas gift in the new year when CBS rolls out the epic three-part, six-hour mini-series Comanche Moon on January 13, 2008, starring Val Kilmer, Karl Urban, Steve Zahn, Rachel Griffiths, Elizabeth Banks, Adam Beach, and Wes Studi. A prequel to Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning Lonesome Dove novel, which was also turned into a popular Emmy Award winning mini-series in the late '80s, Comanche Moon is the long-awaited final installment in the Lonesome Dove saga.

Comanche Moon follows the story of middle-aged Texas Ranger duo Augustus "Gus" McCrae (Steve Zahn) and Woodrow Call (Karl Urban) as they ride the West now dealing with the challenges of life as adults. The two find themselves caught between love, the Western way of life, and several engaging personalities - "Gus with his great love, Clara Forsythe (Cardellini), and Call with Maggie Tilton (Elizabeth Banks), the young prostitute who loves him and bears him his son, Newt (Joseph Castanon). Kilmer plays Captain Inish Scull, a Yankee aristocrat and hero of the recently concluded Mexican War. Griffiths plays Inez Scull, the Captain's sexy wife who doesn't hesitate to fill her time with other men when he's away from home. Wes Studi plays Comanche Chief Buffalo Hump."

If that's not enough to make you saddle up your imaginary horse and ride into the events preceeding Lonesome Dove, Comanche Moon offers a different perspective than the last TV outing in that it follows the Native American Indian point of view as the Comanche way of life comes to an end.

In an exclsuive interview with The Deadbolt, Comanche Moon co-star Karl Urban spoke of the challenges he faced in playing a character with an opposing viewpoint from his own belief system, "I’m a staunch advocate of Indian rights... my personal understanding and belief, of these justices who would go after the Indians, is polar opposite to a man like Woodrow Call. That was definitely a challenge to really sell a point of view which is completely different from your own."

As the story progresses, an emotional and inevitable clash of cultures ensues - "Two proud but very different men, McCrae and Call enlist with a Ranger troop in pursuit of three outlaws: Buffalo Hump, the great Comanche war chief; Kicking Wolf (Jonathon Joss, "Into the West"), the celebrated Comanche horse thief; and Ahumado (Sal Lopez, The Astronaut Farmer), a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture. Assisting the Rangers in their wild chase is the renowned Kickapoo tracker Famous Shoes (David Midthunder, "Into the West"). They are joined by their comrades-in-arms, Deets (Keith Robinson, Dreamgirls), Jake Spoon (Ryan Merriman, The Ring Two) and Pea Eye Parker (Troy Baker, Striking Range), in the bitter struggle to protect an advancing western frontier against the defiant Comanches who are determined to defend their territory and their way of life. The Rangers also encounter Buffalo Hump's violent outcast son, Blue Duck (Adam Beach, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit")."

Directed by Simon Wincer (Quigley Down Under, Lonesome Dove), Comanche Moon airs on CBS in three parts on three consecutive nights in the same timeslot - Sunday, January 13, Tuesday, January 15 and Wednesday, January 16 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).

For more on Comanche Moon plus a few thoughts on the upcoming Star Trek movie and Urban's thoughts on playing the new "Bones" McCoy, lock down our full interview, Karl Urban Talks Comanche Moon Mini-series and Star Trek.