STEVEN SPIELBERG’S FORGOTTEN SIX-PART WESTERN EPIC STARS JOSH BROLIN AND KERI RUSSELL — AND TELLS A POWERFUL STORY THAT DESERVES FAR MORE ATTENTION! Long before today's Western TV boom, Spielberg brought an ambitious tale of the American frontier to the screen. Spanning decades of history, this sweeping drama follows two families whose lives become intertwined as settlers push westward and Native Americans fight to preserve their way of life. With a remarkable cast, breathtaking landscapes and deeply emotional storytelling, this overlooked six-part series offers far more than a traditional Western.

Steven Spielberg’s 6-Part Emmy-Winning Western Miniseries Was Once an Epic Television Event

Image via TNT

Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wonderful wife and precious daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, interviews, and breaking news on select occasion. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own, from supernatural thrillers to historical fiction. His Western short story, The Devil’s Left Hand, received the Spur Award for “Best Western Short Fiction” in 2025 from the Western Writers of America, of which he is a member. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.

If you’re looking back at America’s history during this tumultuous time, we have a six-part miniseries for you. In 2005, Steven Spielberg teamed up with TNT to produce a 12-hour event (with commercials, of course) that chronicled the period of expansion on the American frontier between 1825 and 1890, covering some of the most significant events of the 19th century.

Along for the ride were a host of notable stars, including Josh Brolin, Keri Russell, Gil Birmingham, Zahn McClarnon, Rachael Leigh Cook, Will Patton, Graham Greene, and so many more, each of whom contributed to this grand story that spans generations. If you love Westerns, and you’re looking for a thoughtful and exciting binge this winter season, give Into the West a try.

‘Into the West’ Is an In-Depth Look at American History

Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle) and Thunder Heart Woman (Tonantzin Carmelo) look at fields, Into the West.

Once called “the most ambitious production TNT has ever undertaken” by Michael Wright, the network’s SPV of Original Programming, Into the West, lives up to that ambition in strides. With each hour-and-a-half episode, the series brings history to life through the eyes of those who lived it. Well, at least as close to those eyes as we can get. The series is narrated primarily by American pioneer Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle) and Lakota medicine man Loved by the Buffalo (Joseph M. Marshall III), each of whom holds a unique perspective on the settling of the West, the future of America, and the spiritual values that hold our world together. Jacob journeys west to settle it and make a name for himself, while Loved by the Buffalo seeks to preserve the Lakota tradition. These two are united when Jacob rescues and marries Loved by the Buffalo’s sister, Thunder Heart Woman (Tonantzin Carmelo).

What makes Into the West so unique is the different perspectives it offers on American history. Mountain men such as Jedediah Smith (Brolin) and historical Lakota chief Conquering Bear (Greene) feature as a part of the story, but, in an almost Forrest Gump sort of way, they’re only window-dressing. The Wheeler family and Loved by the Buffalo’s family — including his brothers, Running Fox (McClarnon) and Dog Star (Michael Spears) — are truly the driving force of this narrative. While they’re technically fictional characters, they give the audience the freedom to move throughout history as if they’re almost a spectator. As the West continues to be settled and civilization and progress expand westward, Into the West goes from focusing specifically on different Wheelers as they make their respective livings to watching the events of history unfold, including some of its darkest moments.

Events such as the Mexican-American War, the California gold rush, the Treaty of Fort Laramie, the American Civil War, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn are all featured here. Into the West does a balanced job of highlighting both triumph and tragedy with purposeful direction. The horrors done to the Native American people are on full display, as is the bravery of the men and women who ventured across the West in search of a better life and home. If you’re looking for a black-and-white look at American history or an overly bleak view of our past, you won’t find either. Rather, Into the West is proud of its heritage while being unafraid to revisit the mistakes of the past.

20 Years Later, ‘Into the West’ Deserves to Be Remembered

Josh Brolin as mountain man Jedediah Smith on horseback in the winter on Into the West.

Thunder Heart Woman (Tonantzin Carmelo) watches the buffalo on 'Into the West'

Naomi Wheeler (Keri Russell) cries as she is taken from her adopted tribe by Union soldiers on Into the West

A band of Lakota travel across the mountainous wilderness on horses in Into the West.

Dog Star (Michael Spears) and Running Fox (Zahn McClarnon) hold their horses on Into the West.

“The typical Western is kind of a good-guy/bad-guy thing, and that’s great,” explained series star Matthew Settle to IGN in 2005. “But initially, when I heard about Into the West and what I love about it is that it delves into both sides of our cultural past, and it puts more of a human face on the Native Americans.” Because of this, Into the West took six weeks to tell this profound, nearly century-long story. The miniseries needed this time not just because of its complicated (and incredibly large) cast of characters but because we needed to take in the landscape before it’s gone. Things shift and change, sometimes as quickly as the wind, in the West, and it’s only by taking its time that Into the West can convey the full Western experience, from the beginning of westward expansion until destiny is made manifest.

Generally praised by critics, the miniseries was nominated for 16 different Primetime Emmys in 2006, winning two, one for Geoff Zanelli‘s dramatic score and another for the sound mixing for the third episode, “Dreams and Schemes.” Critical reviews, such as The Morning Call, called Into the West “painstakingly accurate,” and that’s certainly the truth. The miniseries went to great lengths to present itself as historically accurate as possible, and it deserves to be revisited after all these years. As Loved by the Buffalo says at the very end, “When you tell these stories, you touch the Grandmothers and Grandfathers.”