Legendary Western Icon Gets an Ambitious Sci-Fi Makeover in New Netflix Series

In 2023 Taylor Sheridan shifted from Yellowstone-era dramas to tell the life of a real lawman in Lawmen: Bass Reeves on Paramount+. Chad Feehan created the series with Sheridan as an executive producer, and David Oyelowo starred as Reeves, a former slave who rose to become one of the first African American deputy U.S.

marshals west of the Mississippi. The show earned strong reviews and brought Oyelowo a Critics' Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination. Netflix has taken a very different approach with Bass X Machina, reimagining the frontier as an alternate, steampunk West.

The adult animated series sends Reeves after not only outlaws but also machines and supernatural horrors, casting him as judge, jury and executioner as he fights to protect his family while risking their safety. First-look images present a hardened Bass sporting a mechanical right arm and a bleaker world than the historical frontier.

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