With his HBO shows Deadwood and John From Cincinnati, David Milch proved himself adept at cerebral Reconstruction-era yarns, as well as occasionally frustrating stream-of-consciousness dialogue. And as his reward, both of those shows were canceled. But now HBO is making it up to him by signing a new extension deal with Milch, one that not only secures his place as executive producer of the upcoming Luck, it also pairs him with a writer who shares many of his same interests and sensibilities: William Faulkner, who, as a bonus, is dead and therefore can’t get in the way of Milch’s process.
Under his new contract, Milch will develop original movies and potentially even TV series from Faulkner’s works, though as of yet there’s no indication of which stories he plans to tackle first, as the network’s deal with Faulkner’s estate (as announced via press release) covers 19 novels and 125 short stories, minus any that are currently under development with other parties. Given HBO’s recent fascination with incest—as seen on Game Of Thrones and Bored To Death—we wouldn’t be surprised to hear them pushing for Absalom, Absalom! or The Sound And The Fury. Perverts.