The 1960 film The Magnificent Seven is one of the best known remakes, reimagining Akira Kurosawa’s beloved 1954 classic Seven Samurai as an American western. Now, that Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen remake is getting a whole new remake itself.
Amazon-owned streaming service MGM+ just announced it has greenlit an eight-episode drama series based on the iconic movie. Tim Kring, known for creating the iconic series Heroes in 2006, will write and executive produce the series. Donald De Line, Lawrence Mirisch, and Bruce Kaufman will executive produce alongside Kring, but no other cast or crew announcements have been made just yet.
The series is set to go into production in about six months, in June 2026. MGM+ has also released an official synopsis for the film, which is “set in the tumultuous 1880s American frontier.”
The synopsis reads: “After a peaceful Quaker village is massacred by mercenaries working for a greedy and ruthless land baron trying to force them off the land he covets, seven gifted but flawed mercenaries are hired by the community to protect them from the land baron’s hired guns. But as the team embeds itself in the community, preparing to defend them against overwhelming odds, they are all forced to grapple with an essential question: is the use of violence acceptable to defend a people whose faith is based on non-violence?”
MGM+ added: “The series takes a deep dive into the stories behind each of the Seven; what’s at stake for them, and why they choose to take on this mission. Like the original, this updated take on the classic story explores themes of honor, sacrifice and redemption, focusing on morality, faith, and the cost of courage.”
“Tim Kring is a master storyteller,” head of MGM+ Michael Wright said in a statement. “Tim, Donald De Line, Larry Mirisch, and Bruce Kaufman have crafted a series that delivers the energy of a classic western, honors the legacy of the original film, and reasserts its timeless themes of the power of unity against oppression and flawed heroes finding redemption by helping those who can’t help themselves.”
The 1960 movie — which was released by United Artists, now part of MGM — was such a critical and commercial success, it spawned many iterations over the years: three sequel films, a 1998 TV series, and a 2016 film remake starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. It’s known as one of the greatest westerns ever made and essentially was a game-changer for the genre when it was released.
Variety reports that True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto's adaptation of The Magnificent Seven for Amazon is no longer moving forward, and neither is he involved in this new adaptation.
Image credit: Getty.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.