After three decades of making large-scale cult movies the whole industry talks about, two-time Oscar-winner Quentin Tarantino has revealed what he hopes will be his next project: a TV show. Following in the footsteps of many big name movie directors — Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Luca Guadagnino — Tarantino is expected to pivot to the small screen for an eight-part miniseries next year.
The revelation came during an event hosted by film critic Elvis Mitchell in New York earlier this week to promote Tarantino’s new book Cinema Speculation. The pair discussed Tarantino’s forthcoming projects, and what his future looks like. Right now, his IMDB page looks pretty bare, which isn’t hugely surprising; the only forthcoming project is a Django/Zorro crossover animation he is expected to co-write. Tarantino has made just nine solo feature-length original projects since his breakout, Reservoir Dogs, in 1992. He famously wanted to make 10 and retire, meaning whatever comes next will likely be his last.
But luckily for us, he’s stalling a little by pivoting towards TV. We know very little — he’s purposely keeping plot and production details under wraps — only that he hopes to start shooting the project in early 2023.
Tarantino has delved into TV before, but only briefly, doing guest directorial spots for shows like ER and CSI in the US. Earlier this year, Tarantino was rumoured to have signed on to direct two episodes of a reboot of the FX neo-Western crime drama Justified, but that appears to have fallen through, as the show started shooting in May of this year. This project, which remains untitled, will be his first entirely original body of work for television.
There were other projects teased during his talk with Elvis Mitchell too. One was an as-yet unrealised play he wrote before Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood was released. He also revealed the comic book project he’d choose to adapt if given the opportunity: Marvel’s Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. The comic book, funnily enough, focuses on the character played by Samuel L. Jackson in the Marvel movies, meaning it would be something of a reunion for the director and the Django Unchained and Pulp Fiction star.
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First though, Disney would have to agree to the creative chaos of an R-rated project for the MCU. Tarantino still can’t make a project that’s not laden with sex, blood and guts. We imagine this mystery TV show, when it materialises, will be the same.