Kevin Costner Releases Trailer For New Western, Reflects On ‘Courage’ Of Frontier Settlers | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Amanda Harding.

    Kevin Costner just released the trailer for his upcoming Western drama film, "Horizon: An American Saga."

    The four-part post-Civil War tale is Costner's first big project since his exit from Paramount Network's hit series, "Yellowstone," which is also a Western. The actor co-wrote, directed, and stars in the "Horizon" series.

    The first "Horizon" installment hits theaters on June 28, 2024. The second film will be released two months after that on August 16, per The Hollywood Reporter.

    Costner answered questions about the film series during a moderated panel discussion, mentioning how the new movie will differ from other Westerns.

    "When no one wanted to make the first one, I got the bright idea to make four," the "Dances with Wolves" star joked. "So I don't know what's wrong with me."

    He continued, "I wanted it to step away from what we usually see in Westerns where there's a town that's already there. No one knows how [the town] came to be. There's a guy comes in off the horizon, if you will."


    "We don't know much about him, except that he has some skills he'd like to put behind him and this town ends up needing those skills desperately ... Too often, it's just a convenience for the hero guy to knock down a dumb guy," Costner said.

    The actor and filmmaker also addressed how he handled white settlers encountering Indigenous people as they headed West.

    "I'm ashamed of what happened - I don't know that I'm ashamed or embarrassed - but I want to project what really happened," he said.

    "There was a great injustice that occurred in the West, but it doesn't minimize the courage it took for my ancestors to cut loose and go there. And I recognized the resourcefulness it took and the bravery it took to leave and make this march across this country. It's just a movie that shows the class of cultures. It's our history. I love it. I can enjoy watching a movie like this if I feel like I can see myself in it, and I tried really hard for that to happen."

    He also said their actions should be considered in context with the time.

    "I think it's really a mistake to judge other people how they had to perform or act in another century. We kind of apply our own sensibilities where we live a life today where, when we're offended, we have to get a lawyer or agent or publicity person - somebody to arbitrate our problems. Back then, you had to arbitrate your problems by yourself - which was terribly dramatic, especially if you're dealing with a sociopath," Costner continued. He next mentioned how "strangers" used to be viewed.

    "The stranger was a boogyman," he continued. "If you were a stranger 120 years ago, people were afraid of you because they didn't know if that was really your name or what you'd really done. Like the trailer says, if you were strong enough, if they were mean enough, they could hold on to something, they could take it away from you."


    "And when you can create that architecture in a movie where anything is possible, some people get lucky and some people are not lucky. And when they tried to look at their wife who asked, 'Why are we going out here?' The man simply said, 'We're going to be luckier than that.' And that's how this country got settled and the American native Indians were crushed under this movement. They didn't stand a chance," Costner concluded.