Between ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘The Last of Us,’ could ‘Red Dead Redemption’ get the dramatic adaptation it deserves?

With The Last of Us proving that video games can make for great television and Yellowstone reviving the Western genre, now is the time for that oft-rumored live-action Red Dead Redemption franchise. Done right, it could be an enchanting epic waiting to happen. 

HBO and PlayStation Productions have set the bar incredibly high when it comes to dramatic video game interpretations. Only three episodes into TLOU, and it’s already shattered all expectations. If the show has taught us anything, it’s the magic that can happen when filmmakers stay true to the source material. It doesn’t hurt that TLOU and its post-apocalyptic setting offer ample opportunities to expand on the game’s lore without veering too far from the beaten path. RDR has that and more.

Now that we’ve seen the potential in adapting a dramatic, mature story from game to screen, we can anticipate more gaming franchises getting the live-action treatment. Ghost of Tsushima and God of War are on the slate for PlayStation Productions, and those are both solid choices, but the real show-stealer would be RDR. Primarily set in the changing landscape of the American frontier, the Red Dead Redemption games tell the tragic story of the Van der Linde gang who cling to the ways of the Old West as cowboys and gunslingers fade into history. 

A living, breathing world to explore

The latest episode of The Last of Us is being universally praised for giving what had been a minor character in the game a compelling story. Bill was simply a paranoid hermit in the game, but the HBO series evolved his character and explored his romance with Frank, thus giving them a beautifully heartbreaking story. It was so expertly done that it raises expectations for all gaming side characters going forward, and that’s where RDR2 could be a treasure trove.

The Red Dead Redemption games have a deep list of non-playable characters. Particularly in RDR2, many of these NPCs have entire stories of their own. It gives these side characters an entire life’s worth of history that’s only mentioned in bits and pieces, usually in campfire tidbits. Each member of the Van der Linde gang is begging to be fleshed out. In fact, there’s several whose pasts would make worthy candidates for spinoff series.

Those fleshed out NPCs help create a living, breathing environment for players to explore. That astounding level of detail explains why it took developers eight years to bring RDR2 to life. The story itself is as massive as Rockstar’s vision of the American West and takes place over these three games.

Red Dead Revolver

Although Red Dead Revolver is the namesake of the famed trilogy, this 2004 release is not exactly tied to the other games. Here you have the man who put the red in the Red Dead series, Red Harlow. Like so many cliche Westerns and video games, the plot is focused on Red seeking revenge. In this case, he’s looking for his parents’ killer. Working as a bounty hunter, players explore the American frontier around the 1880s, completing side missions and advancing the story until Red finally exacts his vengeance. 

“I got this lumbago.”

With a relatively unoriginal story and nothing exceptional on the gameplay and graphics side, Red Dead Revolver wasn’t a hit. Given the popularity of the other games, it holds a special place in the hearts of RDR fans and gets the free pass thanks to nostalgia. While it is essentially a standalone in the series, there are avenues filmmakers could explore to tie it into the sweeping narrative of Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2. In Redemption, we meet the lazy old man known simply as Uncle, who also appears in RDR2. 

Generally serving as the comic relief, he avoids all manner of physical labor and comes across more as a con man than a hardened outlaw. He’s good for a laugh with exaggerated tales of his bravado. The gang typically dismisses Uncle’s stories as tall tales and outright lies, but what if they’re not? There are fan theories that he is actually Red Harlow and that piecing together his stories gives a glimpse of what happened to the character in the years between Revolver and Redemption. 

That may be a bit of a stretch, considering Red and Uncle’s opposite personalities, which leads to another theory that perhaps Uncle met Red or heard the tales of the vengeful bounty hunters in the years prior to meeting Dutch Van der Linde. Exploring one of those possibilities in a live-action adaptation would give a new perspective to Uncle’s role in the games while tying the three stories together in a way that stays true to the source material.

Red Dead Redemption

In the words of Anakin Skywalker, this is where the fun begins. A love letter to director Sergio Leone’s 1960s Spaghetti Westerns, specifically the saga of The Man With No Name, Rockstar Games took the Red Dead brand to the early 20th century. Set in 1911, the game takes place against the backdrop of the last days of the Wild West. Outlaws and gunslingers have widely become a relic of the past, and the former Dutch Van der Linde gang is finally being brought to justice. Perhaps worse than the outlaws are the men who pursue them, the agents of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. They track down John Marston, kidnap his wife and son, and force him to hunt down his criminal associates. One by one, John finds his old friends until finally confronting Dutch, who symbolizes the Old West. It culminates with one of the most poignant and impactful deaths in all of gaming.

Before Dutch falls to his death, he leaves prophetic words for John. “When I’m gone, they’ll just find another monster.” As the last surviving member of the Van der Linde gang, John doesn’t get his happy ending. The Pinkertons come, and John makes his final stand against overwhelming odds. Abigail and Jack escape as John dies in a hail of gunfire. Afterwards, players take over as an adult Jack who follows the Red Dead path of vengeance against the agents responsible for his father’s death. That also leaves plenty for potential filmmakers to mine for an additional season. 

Red Dead Redemption 2

As great and dramatic a game as we had in Red Dead Redemption, the sequel surpassed its predecessor in every way. In fact, Red Dead Redemption 2 ranks among the all-time greatest games ever made. 

Rockstar created a vast open-world experience with an enormous map and gorgeously rendered environments. The voice acting and motion capture are among the best ever captured, and Roger Clark gives an endearing performance as the complicated protagonist, Arthur Morgan. It all comes together to create a grand, bittersweet epic that will leave you in tears. Truly, RDR2 is as close to perfect as a game can be. In fact, it’s that cinematic perfection that almost makes a live-action adaptation unnecessary. Almost.

Any Red Dead movie or series would need to start here. Despite the numerical title, this is actually a prequel. Beginning in 1899, RDR2 explores the roots of Red Dead Redemption in the final days of the Van der Linde gang. We meet the legendary Dutch in his prime along with younger versions of John, Abigail, and Jack. Foreshadowing the events of RDR, the prequel fleshes out the rest of the gang which adds context to John’s story and manages to elevate what was already a great game. 

At the heart of the story is Arthur, and casting him for an RDR2 adaptation would be of the utmost importance. Outwardly, he’s the grizzled gunslinger who sees that his time is drawing to a close. Despite that, Arthur is fiercely loyal to the only family he’s ever known and looks at Dutch as a father. Arthur is so blinded by love and devotion that he can’t see past Dutch’s false exterior. Van der Linde uses this to his advantage, spinning his lies and manipulating Arthur and the rest of the gang with promises of a life of leisure farming mangos in Tahiti. Ironically, Uncle is the first to see through Dutch’s ruse. 

The real bane of RDR2 players’ existence is Micah. The newest member of the gang, he is also the most violent and self-serving. He and Arthur are instantly at odds as Micah clearly wants to take Arthur’s place by Dutch’s side. By the time our anti-hero learns that Micah has betrayed the gang and sees the real Dutch, it’s too late, and it plays out in the most heartbreaking fashion.

Similar to Redemption, after Arthur’s death, the game shifts to a new perspective. John becomes the protagonist, and we see him evolve into the man we met in the previous game. He carries on for Arthur, eventually tracking down Micah before confronting Dutch one last time before the events of RDR. It’s the fitting and satisfying ending to a near-flawless game.

Take it seriously

If there’s any gaming franchise worthy of a series or movie, it’s RDR. However, it’s an adaptation that must be handled appropriately. The real difference will be taking the story seriously in a time when self-aware satire is trendy. That’s where The Last of Us is breaking down barriers that ultimately benefit and RDR adaptation. Before TLOU, it was typical for a video game to be treated as goofy kids’ fare as we saw with Doom and countless others. That will be the key to adapting something as magnificent as the Red Dead Redemption franchise.