‘Phenomenal’ true-life Western about man who escaped slavery shoots up Netflix chart

This ‘gritty’ Western series revealing the incredible untold story of a man who escaped enslavement has proven a big hit with Netflix viewers.

Having premiered on Paramount Plus in November 2023, Lawmen: Bass Reeves was added to the Netflix roster this month, and it’s already sitting comfortably in the top 10.

The American miniseries was created by Chad Feehan and is based on the life of one of the first African American deputy US marshals, Bass Reeves, played by David Oyelowo.

Emmy-winning star Oyelowo, 50, rose to fame portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma (2014). He stars alongside fellow cast members Lauren E. Banks as Jennie, Reeves’ wife, Demi Singleton as Sally, Reeves’ eldest daughter, Dennis Quaid as Sherrill Lynn, a deputy US marshal, and Barry Pepper as Esau Pierce, leader of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles.

The eight-parter (also based on two books in the Bass Reeves trilogy by Sidney Thompson) is set in the 1800s and follows Reeves after he escapes the captivity of Arkansas state legislator William Reeves, which he and his family were born into.

Accounts of exactly how he fled after the Civil War vary, but from there, as Oyelowo previously explained, he lived in the Indian Territories, where he picked up languages and tracking skills that came in valuable later on.

Reeves became one of the most legendary (and feared) lawmen in American history and spent more than three decades tracking fugitives, working into his sixties.

He’s credited with arresting 3,000 outlaws, which Oyelowo has declared ‘unthinkable’ for the time, given that ‘the mortality rate of being a deputy marshal back then was so high’.

Lawmen: Bass Reeves chronicles the horrors of the Old West he experienced and his trajectory to now being regarded as a pioneering figure and one of his country’s most accomplished lawmen.

The show currently has a 79% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes but an even better one from audiences, glowing with a so-close-to-perfect 93%.

Among the reviews, Susan Granger of SSG Syndicate hails the series as ‘action-packed’ and praises how it ‘exposes and debunks many cliches’ of the Western genre.

‘Tender, tough, and remarkably human, Oyelowo transcends the Western trope that comes with the genre by being a fully three-dimensional character,’ writes M.N. Miller of FandomWire.

Johnny Loftus of Decider adds that it ‘effectively strikes the balance between tough talk, gunplay, and sentiment’.

As for audiences, Luis U says in a five-star comment: ‘This show is amazing, it transports you to another time and makes you feel part of the story.’

While others remark that the plot can sometimes move ‘slowly’, Arturo C describes it as ‘captivating and engrossing’.

‘This series does not disappoint’, states Eric K, with Joe S echoing: ‘You will feel as though you are in the late 1800s seeing the story of an American hero that we never learned about in school.’

Initially, Lawmen: Bass Reeves was set to be a spin-off of the series 1883, which itself serves as a prequel to Yellowstone. However, it was later confirmed not to be taking place in the fictional Yellowstone universe.

While just one season currently exists, showrunner Feehan said in April 2024 that, if it were to be renewed, it would become an anthology series and explore the lives of other lawmen besides Reeves.

Speaking previously to Esquire, Oyelowo shared that he had been working behind the scenes for eight years to bring Reeves’ story to the small screen.

On what drew him to the job, he called the script ‘truly compelling’, complimenting how it combined ‘the ordinary and the extraordinary’.

‘When you watch, there are so many things that are pertinent in relation to what you are watching on the news today,’ he also said.

‘To be a human being is to have to come to terms with the fact that your time here is finite. Shows that heighten that fact all speak to the reality of our own existence – and how high the stakes become as a result.’

Lawmen: Bass Reeves is now streaming on Netflix.

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