Urban Cowboy TV Show in the Works From The Circle Director
The year is 1980. John Travolta, fresh out of Grease and at the height of his sex-symbol status, stars in Urban Cowboy, a modern western that uses the genre’s tropes to tell a love-hate relationship story with a couple that meets in a bar. The other half of the couple was played by three-time Academy Award Nominee Debra Winger. That story, which was praised for its perfect capture of the appeal of country music at the time, is about to get a revival in the 21st century from Paramount+.
The new series is set to provide a deeper development of the character originally played by Travolta, Budford “Bud” Davis, as he journeys from a farm into the big city of Houston, Texas in the early 80s. True to the original’s legacy, the series will feature iconic music from that time and place, once again providing audiences with a sense of how country music affected and influenced a portion of the American population some decades ago.
The question that the adaptation prompts, however, is how Urban Cowboy will choose to play out two of its main arcs. Back in the 80s, Travolta played that era’s epitomized version of the cowboy — that is, a macho man that picked fights and rarely showed any vulnerabilities. The cowboy persona has since been deconstructed by cinema itself, with recent movies like The Power of the Dog illustrating how the lifestyle of a “true” cowboy could harm themselves and others around them.
Another arc that will probably need to be revised is the “love-hate” relationship between Bud and Sissy (Winger), which could today easily be seen as toxic, abusive, and downright violent. How the new series will manage to play out those arcs, though, we’ll have to wait and see. We'll also be on the lookout for further information regarding cast and whether we can expect cameos from Travolta and Winger.
The original Urban Cowboy was directed by the late filmmaker James Bridges, and the series will have James Pondsolt stepping in as director. Pondsolt will co-write Urban Cowboy with Benjamin Percy, who is making his TV series writing debut. The duo also worked together on the upcoming movie Summering, a coming-of-age story about four friends who decide to make the most of the last weekend of summer before starting middle school.
Further details of Urban Cowboy, such as release date and cast, have yet to be announced.
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