‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ Creator Chad Feehan on Exploring Good v. Evil in Season Finale and Where They Could Go Next
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[This story contains spoilers from the season finale of Lawmen: Bass Reeves.]
In the season finale of Lawmen: Bass Reeves, the audience witnessed a standoff between former Confederate soldier Esau Pierce (played by Barry Pepper) and the hero lawman Bass Reeves (Golden Globe-nominated David Oyelowo). While Esau seemed to see something admirable in Bass from their day-one encounter (when Reeves was still under the confines of slavery), an unfortunate turn of events toward the end of episode one would forever make Esau a mortal enemy in Bass’ eyes.
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And it could not be any other way, says Chad Feehan, showrunner of the Paramount+ series. Having contributed to successful cable network shows such as Ray Donovan (Showtime) and Banshee (Cinemax), Feehan tells The Hollywood Reporter that his friend, executive producer Taylor Sheridan, introducing him to Oyelowo provided the right foundation for the trio to work together in producing what Feehan calls a long-overdue, extensive exploration of the law legend’s life in a TV series format.
But, what were all of the ingredients that helped the series strike a chord with so many viewers? (The series became Paramount+’s most-watched global series premiere of 2023.) Feehan recently discussed the show’s appeal with THR via Zoom, along with some key moments in the final episode of the season and what might be next for the Lawmen series and/or the Bass Reeves character.
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How did you become showrunner and an intricate part of Lawmen: Bass Reeves?
I grew up in Texas and, growing up in Texas, I was told stories about Bass as a kid. I had a family member who was quite a storyteller, and he first introduced me to Bass. Those stories sort of never left my consciousness and every time Bass would pop up in the media, I would always take interest — whether most recently in Watchmen (HBO Max) or The Harder They Fall, or the Texas Monthly did a big spread on him a couple years ago. And coincidentally, Taylor [Sheridan] and I have known each other for a little while and when David [Oyelowo] was looking for a writer, Taylor suggested me.
David invited me to dinner and what I anticipated to be an hour or an hour-and-a-half lasted four hours. David educated me on a lot of the things I didn’t know about Bass. But more than anything, I immediately felt a deep kinship with David right off the bat, and became determined to help him in any way that I could on the legacy of Bass. And thankfully, he asked me to write it.
And when you and David Oyelowo came together, did you know the story would stretch beyond just Bass Reeves, but also that the series would give a more comprehensive look at Black American and Native American life during the Reconstruction Era?
When I heard that Bass was forced to fight for the Confederacy and then shortly thereafter escaped and lived with Native Americans in Indian territory, to me it was obviously horrific, but it was an exciting place to start a character. Especially the character of Bass because, while I didn’t want to make a show about enslavement, I think it really informed the character as to why justice was so important to him as a man. I felt like it was really important for the audience to experience the injustice that he endured in order to understand why justice was the most important thing in his life. So, that is why we’re there.
And then, I knew about Reconstruction from U.S. history and high school, but I didn’t really understand how powerful of an idea it was. I started doing the research and didn’t really understand how coming out of this war, this country started on the right foot; it started on the right foot and had good intentions, and I felt like it was really important to remind audiences of that and of how different the world could have been, had Jim Crow not come along. Part of that was the research and the other was the phenomenal writers that we had in the room, who weren’t just phenomenally (gifted) on the page, but really educated me on some of the things that I didn’t know and didn’t understand. So, we, as a team of writers, felt like it was important to honor that time in American history and pay homage to it, because it allowed a person like Bass to become a U.S. Deputy Marshal, which sadly, you know, 20 years later, that idea became inconceivable again.
Where did you film?
We filmed in North Texas. We were based in my hometown of Fort Worth, which is also where Taylor grew up. But we shot all over. We shot in Fort Worth, we shot the Weatherford, we shot in Mineral Wells. We shot all over North Texas, which was challenging! We had some locations that were a three-hour drive. But it was really important for us to show diversity of topography, and we were willing to drive and move the company to do so.
That’s one thing that audience members noticed about the show. Everything looks so very authentic, from the tools in the home to the details in clothing, let alone the landscapes.
It started with [production designer] Wynn Thomas. I remember hearing that Wynn Thomas was available, and Wynn has been a hero of mine for a very long time. I met with him over Zoom the first time, and I remember walking into that Zoom feeling like I had to pitch Wynn Thomas, this icon, I had to beg him to do the show. And he showed up with the most beautiful presentation, and that’s where it started. I mean, he’s a legend, he’s extraordinarily gifted, and part of that gift is his attention to detail. And that was incredibly obvious within the first minute of speaking to him and him pulling up these incredible photographs of Native Americans living in Indian territory. Our costume designer, the same thing. The only thing that I really impressed upon them was the authenticity; that if it didn’t exist at the time, it’s not in the show. It’s really a team effort, and when you have collaborators that gifted and that talented, I won’t say it’s easy, but it’s a lot easier to keep that attention to detail.
A character who had a torturous impact on Bass Reeves is former Confederate soldier turned Texas Ranger Esau Pierce (Barry Pepper), who kills Reeves’ adopted Native American son in episode one and tries to enslave the deputy marshal towards the end of the finale. Right before Esau can put Bass in chains, the deputy marshal says, “You’re the real monster … We’ve known each other for centuries …” Can you expound on that relationship and scene for us?
It’s a callback to something that Esau says when Esau and Bass are in Esau’s office, and Esau gives him money and says, “We’ve known each other for centuries.” And the idea of that is almost biblical in nature, the idea of good and evil and how the (walk) is so fine between the two. To me, religion was important to Bass Reeves and it is also important to David Oyelowo. And these two men, Bass and Esau, who are in very similar positions and have very similar capabilities as human beings, the only line that separates them is God. It was interesting for us to explore, and Esau says it; a character who does not believe in the concept of religion, but who believes that we’re all animals and he sees himself as an apex predator, and sees Bass as an apex predator, and that’s what he is trying to convince Bass of as well. Bass, on the other hand, believes that we all deserve justice, we all deserve respect. And so, it seemed like a classic good and evil dynamic to explore in the show.
Another character who deeply impacted Bass was a former Black Union soldier named Jackson “Jackrabbit” Cole (Tosin Morohunfola), who brutally kills a slaveowner after witnessing him commit a horrific massacre on a group of his own slaves rather than free them. Bass was tasked with bringing Jackrabbit to another lawman where he would be taken in to face justice.
With Jackrabbit, we have this theme of the weight of the badge, which really shows itself in episode seven. And we had a federal agent in the writers room, who is a very talented writer himself, really talk to us about how heavy it can be to carry a badge. And that starts to weigh on Bass, obviously. And Jackrabbit was a character who was devised to really make Bass start to question the idea of justice and really start to see the distinction between justice and law. And in some ways, Bass could have been Jackrabbit, had he just taken a different fork in the road. We see them as very brotherly and see that they have very similar worldviews. But in a way, Jackrabbit already arrived where Bass is going, which is justice and law are not the same thing.
In the finale, it’s left open to the point where audiences may think we will see Bass Reeves again, although we have heard from Oyelowo that the series will introduce new lawmen in possible upcoming seasons. Will we see Bass Reeves again?
You do this enough, you realize you can never really predict what’s next. Partially by design and partially because Bass’ life is so expansive, there’s meat on the bone. There are a lot of stories involved in the Bass Reeves cannon that I would love to explore if David Oyelowo and Paramount are willing.
I don’t know what’s next. If it is a different lawman, I have a few in mind. If it is another [season of] Bass, I’m jumping in feet first. Because, off the top of my head, the story of him arresting his own son is a fascinating story. There’s an outlaw by the name Bob Dozier, who he had a real cat and mouse relationship with that I’d love to explore. And then, on the home front, in addition to having to arrest his own son, he lost Jennie (his wife) at a certain point. And, what did that do to that man who invested so much into the love of this woman? So, there’s plenty of things to do. But, I don’t make those decisions.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves season one is now streaming on Paramount+
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