Are you ready for a cattle drive? Larry McMurtry’s 1985 novel Lonesome Dove, which nabbed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, is galloping to Netflix with Zoe Kazan and Jeb Stuart as co-showrunners of the drama series.  

The epic drama follows Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call, retired Texas Rangers who embark on one final, perilous cattle drive from the Rio Grande to the untamed wilderness of Montana. Packed with unrequited longing, unbreakable friendship, brutal frontier justice, and an unwavering pursuit of a meaningful life, the sweeping odyssey treks across the American West of the 19th century — and introduces an unforgettable cast of characters along the way.

Lonesome Dove marks Kazan and Stuart’s latest project with Netflix, following their forthcoming adaptation of East of Eden, starring Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott, and Mike Faist. (You can stream the series on Oct. 1.)

“After our singular experience on East of Eden, we are thrilled to be teaming with Netflix again, along with Teton Ridge Entertainment, to bring Larry McMurtry’s western classic to life,” Kazan and Stuart said in a joint statement. “We come to this material with love and respect, and can’t wait to hit the trail with Gus and Call and the rest of these beloved characters. Yee-haw.”

“Lonesome Dove is one of the great American stories, and there was no question we wanted to follow Zoe and Jeb wherever they went next,” Jinny Howe, Netflix Head of Scripted Series, UCAN, said. “After East of Eden, we know exactly what they're capable of — the depth of character, the sweep of place, the emotional precision. This material deserves that level of care. In their hands, it's going to be something extraordinary. We're excited to partner with Teton Ridge to bring this legendary story to life.”

McMurtry, who died in 2021, was a prolific and beloved writer. In addition to Lonesome Dove, which spent more than five consecutive months on the New York Times bestseller list, he also wrote best-selling novels that were adapted into classic films, including Terms of Endearment and The Last Picture Show, and co-wrote the Academy Award–winning film Brokeback Mountain, which was based on a short story by Annie Proulx.  Forty-one years after Lonesome Dove hit bookshelves, McMurtry’s novel continues to be one of the bestselling books on Amazon. 

Executive producers on the series will include: Thomas Tull, Jillian Share, and Jen Gorton of Teton Ridge Entertainment, Jon Jashn, Diana Ossana, and Curtis McMurtry of the McMurtry Estate. 

“Lonesome Dove is the kind of story that only comes along once in a generation,” Jillian Share, President of Teton Ridge Entertainment, said. “Its characters, scope, and deeply human portrait of the American West have made it an enduring classic, and we see an extraordinary opportunity to bring Larry McMurtry’s world to a new generation of audiences.”