Netflix Takes on ‘Lonesome Dove’. Should Fans Be Worried?

Lonesome Dove is coming back to television, and Netflix now holds the reins. That news should excite Western fans. Instead, it raises a hard question: Why does Hollywood keep grabbing beloved American stories if it does not respect what made them beloved? Netflix has ordered a new series based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1985 novel Lonesome Dove. Zoe Kazan and Jeb Stuart will write, executive produce, and serve as co-showrunners after working together on Netflix’s upcoming East of Eden. Teton Ridge Entertainment holds the screen rights to the Lonesome Dove books, and Netflix has not announced a cast, director, release date, or episode count. There is nothing wrong with a new adaptation in principle. Great books can support more than one screen version. The trouble is that the existing version is not some forgotten relic crying out for repair. The 1989 CBS miniseries Lonesome Dove remains one of television’s great achievements. Robert Duvall’s Augustus “Gus” McCrae is not merely a famous performance. It is the kind of work that makes an actor and character seem permanently joined. Duvall played Gus with humor, pride, tenderness, nerve, regret, and the worn-down wisdom...