{ "id": "epfyqpz1mw", "slug": "horizon-an-american-saga", "title": "Horizon: An American Saga", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.franchises", "label": "Film franchises and series (overviews)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.franchises" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "United States · 2021 and later: Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021", "label": "United States · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Horizon: An American Saga is a planned four-part American Western film series directed, co-written, and self-financed by Kevin Costner, with Chapter 1 released by Warner Bros. in 2024.", "snippet": "Horizon: An American Saga is a planned four-part American Western film series directed, co-written, and self-financed by Kevin Costner, with Chapter 1 released by Warner Bros. in 2024.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.franchises", "markdown": "# Horizon: An American Saga\n\n**Horizon: An American Saga** is a planned four-part American Western film series directed, co-written, and largely self-financed by [Kevin Costner](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-costner), who also stars as the cowboy Hayes Ellison. The first installment, *Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1*, was released in North American theaters by Warner Bros. on June 28, 2024, with a second chapter scheduled for August 16 of the same year.[1](https://apnews.com/article/528e240a45ff261242b44334316817a4) Over the course of several years spanning the period both before and after the Civil War, the saga depicts the westward growth and settling of the American West from multiple angles, as experienced by settlers, cavalry soldiers, and Apache people.[2](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/171259.pdf) After the first film's weak box office, the completed second chapter was pulled from its release date and remains unreleased as of 2026.[3](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-2-wont-be-getting-a-release-in-2026/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | Four planned chapters; the first two were shot back to back[4](https://au.variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-costner-horizon-2-pulled-release-date-15860/) |\n| Chapter 1 release | Warner Bros. theatrical release June 28, 2024; runtime 3h 1m; rated R[1](https://apnews.com/article/528e240a45ff261242b44334316817a4) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_1) |\n| Budget and financing | About $100 million for the first two films; Costner put up about $38 million of his own money and mortgaged his Santa Barbara estate[1](https://apnews.com/article/528e240a45ff261242b44334316817a4) |\n| Box office | Chapter 1 opened to $11 million domestically, third place on the weekend chart[4](https://au.variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-costner-horizon-2-pulled-release-date-15860/) |\n| Reception | Metascore 49 (mixed or average, 47 critic reviews); Rotten Tomatoes 51% from 160 critics, 70% from 2,500+ verified audience ratings[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/horizon-an-american-saga---chapter-1/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_1) |\n| Chapter 2 status | Premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2024, then shelved; no release plans for 2026[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27665778/releaseinfo/) • [3](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-2-wont-be-getting-a-release-in-2026/) |\n\n## Story and setting\n\nThe saga is an original story, not based on a book or a true story, though it is grounded in Civil War-era America. It takes place across roughly 15 years in pre- and post-Civil War America, beginning in 1859 in Arizona's San Pedro Valley, where surveyors stake out land for a settlement called Horizon.[8](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-release-date-news) • [9](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/08/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-movie-review) In Chapter 1, an Apache tribe, among them the leader Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe), sets the new settlement ablaze and kills most of its settlers; survivors such as Frances Kittredge ([Sienna Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/sienna-miller)) must find a new place to live, while cavalry lieutenant Trent Gephart ([Sam Worthington](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-worthington)) questions the settlement's presence on Apache land.[8](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-release-date-news) A separate thread follows Ellen Harvey ([Jena Malone](https://www.edgepedia.org/jena-malone)), who flees her violent past with her infant while the Sykes brothers pursue her.[8](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-release-date-news)\n\nCostner plays Hayes Ellison, a saddle tramp and prospector who does not appear until well into the film's running time, about an hour in.[10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/horizon-american-saga-chapter-1-unashamedly-old-fashioned-western) • [11](https://time.com/6980129/horizon-review-kevin-costner/) The large cast also includes [Danny Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/danny-huston) as Colonel Albert Houghton, Michael Rooker as Sergeant Major Thomas Riordan, Abbey Lee as Marigold, Giovanni Ribisi as Pickering, Jamie Campbell Bower as Caleb Sykes, and [Luke Wilson](https://www.edgepedia.org/luke-wilson) leading a wagon train along the [Santa Fe Trail](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-fe-trail).[8](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-release-date-news) • [10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/horizon-american-saga-chapter-1-unashamedly-old-fashioned-western) The Apache perspective is carried largely through the brothers Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe) and Taklishim (Tatanka Means), who see violence as their only recourse to defend their land.[11](https://time.com/6980129/horizon-review-kevin-costner/)\n\n## Production and financing\n\nCostner conceived the story in 1988 and began pursuing its production in 2003, after filming *Open Range*.[12](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2024/out-competition/horizon-american-saga-chapter-2) The project stalled for decades at multiple studios before Costner committed to self-financing the first two chapters.[13](https://saturation.io/budgets/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-2024) He wrote the screenplay with Jon Baird, shared story credit with Baird and Mark Kasdan, and produced through his company Territory Pictures, in a [New Line Cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-line-cinema) presentation.[14](https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/horizon-american-saga-%E2%80%93-chapter-two-directed-and-starring-kevin-costner) • [19](https://press.wbd.com/na/media-release/hbo-max/horizon-american-saga-chapter-1-begins-streaming-exclusively-max-august-23)\n\nTo raise money for the $100 million-plus production, Costner mortgaged his seaside [Santa Barbara, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-barbara-california) estate; in his own words, \"I've got now about $38 million in the film. That's the truth. That's the real number.\"[1](https://apnews.com/article/528e240a45ff261242b44334316817a4) • [4](https://au.variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-costner-horizon-2-pulled-release-date-15860/) Chapter 1 premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2024.[15](https://apnews.com/article/5836850350844a0edc9efaf0ef868cab) It was only Costner's fourth film as director, following *Dances with Wolves* (1990), *The Postman* (1997), and *[Open Range](https://www.edgepedia.org/open-range-2003-film)* (2003).[1](https://apnews.com/article/528e240a45ff261242b44334316817a4)\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nCritics were divided on Chapter 1. Its Metascore of 49, based on 47 reviews, fell into the \"mixed or average\" band, with 23% positive, 62% mixed, and 15% negative reviews; the user score on the same site was 6.5 from 141 ratings.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/horizon-an-american-saga---chapter-1/) On Rotten Tomatoes the Tomatometer stood at 51% from 160 reviews, while the verified audience Popcornmeter was 70% from more than 2,500 ratings.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_1) The site's critics consensus held that the first chapter \"proves too diffuse in scope for it to satisfy as a self-contained endeavor.\"[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_1)\n\nRecurring criticisms concerned structure rather than spectacle. [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker)'s review, by the magazine's film critic Richard Brody, called the film a heavy-handed return to the genre that \"rushes through its many stories and straight past American history.\"[9](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/08/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-movie-review) TIME's reviewer described it as a tribute to great Westerns rather than a great one, noting anachronistic dialogue such as Worthington's lieutenant calling Native people \"the Indigenous,\" a word few 19th-century white Americans would have used.[11](https://time.com/6980129/horizon-review-kevin-costner/) Sight & Sound's John Bleasdale found that while almost every Western cliché is \"lovingly excavated,\" the traditional approach is part of its charm, and noted the film's sympathetic portrayal of Chinese immigrants and Indigenous characters, including showing scalpings carried out by white Americans rather than by Apaches.[10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/horizon-american-saga-chapter-1-unashamedly-old-fashioned-western)\n\nCommercially, the film earned $11 million on its opening weekend against a $100 million budget, landing third on the domestic chart.[4](https://au.variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-costner-horizon-2-pulled-release-date-15860/)\n\n## The stalled sequel\n\nTwo weeks after Chapter 1's release, Warner Bros. and New Line pulled Chapter 2 from its August 16, 2024 date, saying they wanted to \"give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment\" of Horizon on premium video-on-demand and Max.[4](https://au.variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-costner-horizon-2-pulled-release-date-15860/) The completed film, which runs about 3 hours 10 minutes, premiered out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, but received no distribution afterward.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27665778/releaseinfo/) • [16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_2)\n\nAs of 2026 the second chapter remains unreleased. A Warner Bros. representative confirmed to the outlet World of Reel that there are zero plans to release the film in 2026, and Film Stories reported that until legal disputes around the production are resolved there appears to be no path to release.[3](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-2-wont-be-getting-a-release-in-2026/) Chapter 3 had only a few days of filming, roughly ten minutes of footage in total, and Chapter 4 has not been filmed.[3](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-2-wont-be-getting-a-release-in-2026/) • [17](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/kevin-costners-horizon-sam-worthington-offers-not-much-of-an-update-really/) Chapter 1, by contrast, proved to be a Netflix hit in the United States after its theatrical run.[17](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/kevin-costners-horizon-sam-worthington-offers-not-much-of-an-update-really/)\n\nThe production has also drawn litigation. In May 2025 the stunt performer Devyn LaBella sued Costner and the production companies in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging she was subjected to an unscripted rape scene during Chapter 2 filming without proper warning, consent, or protocols; Costner's attorney said the lawsuit has no merit.[18](https://apnews.com/article/f6057cdef7503cdb28a29832842d1d02)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Q&A: Kevin Costner on unveiling his Western saga 'Horizon' at Cannes, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/528e240a45ff261242b44334316817a4)\n2. [Horizon: An American Saga - Background, Festival de Cannes](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2024/05/171259.pdf)\n3. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2 won't be getting a release in 2026, Film Stories](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-2-wont-be-getting-a-release-in-2026/)\n4. [Kevin Costner's 'Horizon 2' Pulled From August Release After First Movie Bombs at Box Office, Variety](https://au.variety.com/2024/film/news/kevin-costner-horizon-2-pulled-release-date-15860/)\n5. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_1)\n6. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/horizon-an-american-saga---chapter-1/)\n7. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2 (2024) - Release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27665778/releaseinfo/)\n8. [Horizon An American Saga Chapter 1: Cast, Plot, Release Date, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-release-date-news)\n9. [Kevin Costner's 'Horizon' Goes West but Gets Nowhere, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/08/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-movie-review)\n10. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1: an unashamedly old-fashioned western, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/horizon-american-saga-chapter-1-unashamedly-old-fashioned-western)\n11. [Horizon Is More a Tribute to Great Westerns Than a Great One Itself, TIME](https://time.com/6980129/horizon-review-kevin-costner/)\n12. [Biennale Cinema 2024 | Horizon: an American saga - Chapter 2, La Biennale di Venezia](https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2024/out-competition/horizon-american-saga-chapter-2)\n13. [Horizon Chapter 1 (2024) Budget: $100M Western Saga, Saturation.io](https://saturation.io/budgets/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1-2024)\n14. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter Two directed by and starring Kevin Costner, La Biennale di Venezia](https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/horizon-american-saga-%E2%80%93-chapter-two-directed-and-starring-kevin-costner)\n15. [Kevin Costner's Western epic 'Horizon, An American Saga' will premiere at Cannes, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/5836850350844a0edc9efaf0ef868cab)\n16. [Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/horizon_an_american_saga_chapter_2)\n17. [Kevin Costner's Horizon | Sam Worthington offers not much of an update really, Film Stories](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/kevin-costners-horizon-sam-worthington-offers-not-much-of-an-update-really/)\n18. [Stunt performer sues Kevin Costner over his direction of a rape scene in his film series 'Horizon', Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/f6057cdef7503cdb28a29832842d1d02)\n19. [HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER 1 Begins Streaming Exclusively On Max August 23, Pressroom](https://press.wbd.com/na/media-release/hbo-max/horizon-american-saga-chapter-1-begins-streaming-exclusively-max-august-23)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film franchises and series (overviews)*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Horizon: An American Saga\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Horizon: An American Saga](https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga](https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Horizon: An American Saga\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/horizon-an-american-saga. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Horizon: An American Saga is a planned four-part American Western film series directed, co-written, and self-financed by Kevin Costner, with Chapter 1 released by Warner Bros. in 2024." }