TV Talk: Taylor Sheridan’s latest Western tells the story of U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

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The latest — and the last for a while, because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes delaying production — new Taylor Sheridan series isn’t a show he’s written. Instead, Chad Feehan (“Ray Donovan,” “Rectify”) is the credited creator and writer on Paramount+’s eight-episode “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” streaming Nov. 5.

Sheridan executive produces, and that’s probably for the better. “Lawmen” moves at a faster clip than Sheridan’s moseying “1923.”

David Oyelowo (“Selma,” “Silo”) stars as Reeves, the first Black U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi. But before he can grow into that role, viewers meet him improbably fighting in the Civil War for the confederacy at the behest of his master, George Reeves (Shea Whigham).

Eventually, Bass secures his freedom and makes his way west and spends some time in Seminole Territory, living with a family headed by a matriarch played by Pittsburgh native Margot Bingham.

By the end of Episode 2, Bass is recruited by a U.S. marshal (Dennis Quaid) to join the U.S. Marshals Service.

The first two episodes move at a brisk enough pace and have a few shocking, gory turns as “Lawmen” depicts battles and shootouts with fatal head wounds galore. As a balance to that, Oyelowo brings a decency to Bass and a sweetness to the relationship between Bass and his wife, Jennie (Lauren E. Banks). Former “This Is Us” star Lonnie Chavis, who played young Randall, appears as Arthur, who is sweet on Bass’ daughter, Sally (Demi Singleton).

In the third episode, Donald Sutherland and Garrett Hedlund show up as new characters.

With only three episodes available for review — episodes that do a lot of establishing of characters and settings — it’s unclear if “Lawmen” will turn into more of a procedural going forward as Bass arrests a new fugitive each week.

Director Damian Marcano, who helmed Episodes 4-6, said there’s a 12-year time jump between Episodes 3 and 4. Marcano said Sheridan encouraged him to pivot and not rely on the visual template established in previous episodes.

“Lawmen” filmed in Texas with a production office in Fort Worth, but Marcano said, “Our set, however, was probably about a 250-mile radius of a set. We shot everywhere from Waxahachie to a place called Strawn. It was huge.”

For writer Chad Feehan, who spent six months in Western Pennsylvania in the summer of 2015 shooting the final season of Cinemax’s “Banshee,” the opportunity to tell Reeves’ story drew him to the project.

“I heard about Bass Reeves as a child,” Feehan said. “I’d hear stories about (him) from my uncle, but they were always very mythic. And then David Oyelowo invited me to dinner, and he explained to me where the myth both converged with and separated from reality. And inevitably I saw a character who demonstrated something that’s important to me, which is the triumph of the human spirit.”

“Lawmen” originally was announced as a series about Reeves but at some point turned into an anthology that in succession will focus on a different lawman each season, beginning with Reeves.

“I think the network got really excited by what we were doing and saw the potential for future variations,” Feehan said. “They asked me if I thought that it could extend into future seasons, and I said, absolutely. I don’t know who the show will focus on (in future seasons), and I hope that I’m involved.”