Charlize Theron’s Hatfields & McCoys Finds a Home at NBC

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NBC has been busy ordering pilot after pilot, many of which – rather curiously, if you ask me – are in the drama spectrum of television. The latest project to be given the pilot order is the Charlize Theron produced Hatfields & McCoys. This title might seem familiar to you if you happened to catch History Channel’s recent record-breaking six-hour miniseries of the same name – they are, after all, both based on the same famous feud between two families – but we assure you, Theron’s project predated History Channel’s. At long last, things are in motion to bring to life this contemporary take on the war between those Hatfields and McCoys.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Theron’s Hatfields & McCoys is set in present-day Pittsburgh. A startling death reignites a feud between the two legendary families, with the blue-collar McCoys going to war against the wealthy and powerful Hatfields. I’m not quite sure how this feud will work in modern times – the real-life happenings included the death of 12 people, a mix of both Hatfields and McCoys. Would you be able to properly portray that kind of violence in a world with much stricter laws against murder and crime in general? Or will they try and tell the tale through different means, setting up the families as business rivals, trying to ruin each other financially? It’s a workable premise. This death that sets everything off could lead to plenty of court proceedings as well as attempts to get revenge and maybe even evidence planting.

I can imagine this series having a similar feel to ABC’s Revenge, which might be something to both work toward and stay clear of. What Revenge does works for it because it dives head first into the drama. Sometimes it comes off as soap opera-like, but that’s part of the fun. Hatfields & McCoys may not want to go for that level of extreme drama, but it should definitely look at how Revenge weaves its plots and works the feuds between the various characters and their families.

Alongside Theron, A.J. Dix, Dawn Olmstead and Beau Flynn are serving as executive producers, with John Glenn writing the script.