Steven Spielberg, Javier Bardem team up for Amazon series based on old Dalton Trumbo script

According to Deadline, Amazon has picked up a four-hour miniseries called Cortes about Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador who helped dismantle the Aztec Empire and won Mexico for Spain. The series comes from Steven Spielberg and Amblin Television, and though the current incarnation comes from Spielberg’s Schindler’s List writer Steven Zaillian, the idea is based on a 50-year-old script written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo. Spielberg was first attached to this project in 2014, when he was close to directing a movie version, but Amblin has expanded it to a TV miniseries “so it can do justice to the scope of the epic story.”

Just in case that still isn’t enough big-name Hollywood prestige, the miniseries will star Javier Bardem as Cortes himself. In a statement, Amazon’s Head Of Scripted Series, Sharon Yguado, said, “There are few moments in history that shape an entire culture such as Cortes’ story, and this series will be one filled with drama and adventure.”