Lawmen: Bass Reeves creator Chad Feehan teases his story ideas for season 2. Starring David Oyelowo as the titular protagonist, Lawmen: Bass Reeves tells the story of the real-life lawman who was one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi. Season 1 has garnered acclaim, including a Golden Globe nomination for Oyelowo in the Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television category.
Speaking with The Wrap, Feehan discusses potential story ideas for Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 2. The creator said that “Bass’s life is so incredible” and would have ample stories to tell. One such storyline could follow Reeves’s son Bennie, while another would feature his relationship with the famous Black outlaw Bob Dozier. Check out the full quote from Feehan below:
If David’s game, I would love to do another season. I intentionally left some meat on the bone in case we got to this point. Bass’s life is so incredible and it’s so expansive, there is no way that we could hit every major benchmark in his life in 8 or 10 hours or else it would’ve felt almost like a procedural.
And so the story of his son, I would love to tell that story. I don’t know if you know, but his son, who’s the youngest in the show, Bennie, the little boy, he ends up arresting much later in life for murder and went and pursued his son because he was worried that during the era of Jim Crow, that he would be killed in the process of arrest, and so took it upon himself to peacefully arrest his own son and bring him into Fort Smith. That’s a story I would love to tell. There’s a Black outlaw named Bob Dozier who had a real cat-and-mouse-type relationship with Bass, that would taunt Bass, that I would love to explore that. There’s plenty of stories that I’d love to tell, and again, if David is game, sign me up.
Should The Lawmen Franchise Focus On Bass Reeves Or Other Stories?
As its Golden Globe designation indicates, Lawmen: Bass Reeves is currently planned to be a standalone season. While the Lawmen: Bass Reeves ending left the door ajar for more stories, the show came to such a satisfying conclusion that a season 2 would not be necessary. Feehan’s ideas, however, are intriguing, hinting that the show could still continue.
The Lawmen: Bass Reeves team has previously suggested season 1 could be the first entry in an anthology series. Oyelowo, who is also an executive producer on the show, said that future seasons could tell stories of “other lawmen in history.” Thus, instead of a multi-season saga of just Bass Reeves, the series would be thematically connected to him through the stories of other lawmen.
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That said, Feehan’s story ideas present the option to take on Reeves’s legacy without making another season exclusively about him. With Feehan’s pitches, Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 2 could emphasize Bennie more, or even nemesis Bob Dozier, and then bring Oyelowo’s character back when necessary. There are also other lawmen that surround Bass that could have interesting stories to highlight, and if they exist in the same time period as Bass, he could still appear. Perhaps the next step is to move away from the heavy focus on Bass Reeves without completely abandoning the character or his world.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves
Continuing the expanded universe of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone franchise, Lawmen: Bass Reeves is a western drama that acts as a spin-off of 1883 and follows the titular lawman who became the first black Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi River. The show will follow his journey to becoming the lawman he was known to be, all while fleshing out the greater Yellowstone universe.
