Like sifting for gold from a creek, each generation of filmmakers either preserves or discards the tropes of a genre to create works that can keep the past alive while giving life to new forms of storytelling. The Western is perhaps the most stringent and lasting genre of American film, and each iteration has almost always ridden closely alongside its predecessors — often entertaining but seldom innovating. That is until Godless came along. Written and directed by Scott Frank, Godless has somehow managed to divert the gaze of Western lovers from the genre’s immense catalog of films to an unexpected place: television.
A member of an increasingly refined species of TV, the limited series, Godless premiered on Netflix in November 2017 to wide praise from critics and audiences alike. Set in and around the small mining town of La Belle, the show follows infamous outlaw Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and his men as they wreak havoc upon New Mexico in the late 1800s. Bent on revenge, Griffin scours the land for his former pseudo-son Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), who’s abandoned his gang of bandits and taken refuge at a remote ranch outside of La Belle.
After suffering heavy losses in a sudden mining accident, La Belle is now populated almost entirely by women, save for a sheriff with waning confidence (Scoot McNairy), a doe-eyed deputy (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), and a few meandering elders. While Roy Goode inches toward redemption at the guidance of Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery), his trail draws the terror of Frank Griffin ever closer, promising further death and destruction to an already devastated La Belle.
The Score in ‘Godless’ Is as Rich as the Story
Before we get to anything further, we have to talk about the score. Any Western worth its weight has a golden score helping to guide the story along. With only one major credit prior (2014’s <em>A Walk Among the Tombstones</em>), Carlos Rafael Rivera has already inserted himself into the upper echelon of composers with his work on Godless.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
WhichTaylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
Yellowstone
Landman
Tulsa King
Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from?
In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that’s been feared and respected for generations.
BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first.
CReputation. I’ve earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it.
DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
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02
Who do you put first, no matter what?
Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me.
BThe company — or whoever’s signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract.
CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don’t abandon them for anything.
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DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I’m the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
The Women of La Belle Are Second to None
The show that claimed most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
The women breathe new life into the world of Westerns both as individual characters and as a collective whole. The peril of an outlaw-surrounded town made almost solely of women is not just central conflict; it’s how this show forges all classic tropes with modern sensibility to create a unique experience.
The show is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.
Here you can find the original article; photos used in our article also come from this source.
