The Big Picture
Western TV is experiencing a renaissance with unique shows like Outer Range standing out among the pack.
Outer Range is more than just a murder mystery – it explores complex character arcs and a supernatural twist.
The series has a lot of room to grow in future seasons, promising even more intrigue and surprises for viewers.
Unless you fell into a black hole in the ground, there’s no denying that there’s something of a Western Renaissance going on right now in Hollywood, especially on television. Shows like Walker, Longmire, Justified, and Yellowstone and its many spin-offs have successfully highlighted the contemporary American West, reigniting the myth that was once lost. But, whether you prefer Westerns set in the past or the present, what’s important is that the genre is returning to the screen, and often with a twist. This brings us to the Prime Video original series Outer Range, which recently set its Season 2 release date for May 16.
Outer Range
Release Date April 15, 2022
Creator Brian Watkins
Seasons 2
What Is ‘Outer Range’ About?
Headlined by Josh Brolin himself, Outer Range is a slick Western mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat every episode. Taking place in rural Wyoming, with the instantly recognizable Tetons far off in the distance, the series centers around the Abbott family of ranchers struggling to stay afloat. Brolin plays patriarch Royal Abbott opposite Lili Taylor’s Cecilia. Their sons, Rhett (Lewis Pullman) and Perry (Tom Pelphrey), work the dying ranch alongside them as land-grabbing tycoon Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton) and his sons attempt to take the Abbott land as their own.
What could easily seem like a Yellowstone rip-off turns out to be absolutely nothing like that. Not only are the Abbotts notably different from Yellowstone’s Duttons, but the land-napping plot is only a small part of the story. In reality, there’s something much bigger and intricately darker about Outer Range that keeps folks coming back for more. Yes, the casting is great, and the series’ soundtrack is a heck of a ride, but what makes Outer Range truly compelling is the strong character arcs and complex mystery that’ll have you theorizing about the end for days.
The Abbott Family Has a Dark Secret in ‘Outer Range’
Image via Prime Video
When the show starts, the Abbotts find themselves in a pickle. The eldest son Perry, whose wife Rebecca (Kristen Connolly) is missing and daughter Amy (Olive Abercrombie) is in his care, beats one of the Tillerson boys to death in a drunken rage after being taunted about his wife’s disappearance. From then on, the Abbotts are forced to cover up the murder in order to keep their son (and their granddaughter’s father) out of prison, and it nearly tears them apart.
Though Brolin’s Royal Abbott shows some incredible restraint (he has some experience keeping dark secrets of his own), his very Christian wife Cecelia has a different experience withholding this secret. As the tensions between Royal and Cecelia rise, it becomes clear that Outer Range has something that Yellowstone sorely lacks: a consistent and complex husband/wife dynamic. While the Abbott family heads handle the sudden turn of events differently, we begin to better understand exactly where they came from and what might come next as a result. As the murder tears the Abbotts apart, another strange cast member arrives to fan the flames of discord among the family.
Alongside the already powerhouse cast is Imogen Poots’ Autumn. A fascinating seductress that has more up her sleeve than anyone would know, the drifter’s true motives are shocking and unpredictable. Autumn’s reasons for staying on the Abbott Ranch (and cozying up to Royal) couldn’t easily be guessed, and by the time they’re revealed, the damage has already been done. But if not for the greater mystery that encompasses Outer Range, none of that would even have been possible in the first place.
‘Outer Range’ Is a Western With a Sci-Fi Twist
Image via Prime Video
While many Westerns ground themselves in a more secular reality (with only Native American spirituality as their voyage into the unknown), Outer Range isn’t afraid to tackle the weird or unexplained. Pushing a plot that feels more like an X-Files episode than a Western, the Prime Video series introduces us to the giant hole in the ground on the edge of the Abbott family’s plot of Wyoming land, a dark pit with seemingly no end. Of course, there is an end, but how it got there, and its ultimate purpose, is a bizarre mystery that may take a few seasons to solve.
At the risk of spoiling the twist and the metaphysics involved, let’s just say that there’s more to Outer Range than meets the eye and that the black vortex is more than just a hole in the ground. When speaking with Collider, Brolin described the series as “a hybrid of a Western and metaphysical elements that could stand in… The hole could stand in for anything you want it to, whether it’s the kind of psychic block, or chaotic block that we have ongoing around right now, secrets, America.”
The high strangeness that goes on out in the cow fields of rural Wyoming attracts even more as disappearing mountains, wandering herds of buffalo, and mysterious black dust all appear (or disappear) around town. Setting up a larger world outside the Abbott homestead, Outer Range takes the time, like Lost before it, to set the stage before diving head-first into the weirdness surrounding the Abbott and Tillerson families. Though, unlike Lost, it seems like a satisfying ending may be in mind — or at least we hope so.
‘Outer Range’ Has Lots of Room to Grow
There’s no denying that the first season of Outer Range feels somewhat complete. While yes, there are plenty of threads left untied and arcs still in need of completion, many of the biggest mysteries (especially those surrounding Autumn) have been revealed as the conflict between her and Royal comes to a head. Nevertheless, the Prime Video series has a lot of room to expand and continue going forward, and given that Brolin himself would like the series to last at least three seasons, there’s hopefully enough material to dive deeper into that black hole.
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Beyond just the metaphysical mystery, we’re not done with the Abbott family just yet. Missing family members, romantic subplots, and the introduction of cults keep our minds occupied, as we hope that Royal can bring everyone back together again before the Tillersons close in. Given that the first season shows us a glimpse of the future — or, at least, a possible one — there’s a lot that needs to occur before we get anywhere near the show’s final end. Yes, there are still plenty of stories left for the Abbotts, and we can’t wait to watch them unfold.
The best thing that Outer Range has going for it is that it’s different. It’s not just another Yellowstone knock-off or a Longmire-ish take on the West. Likewise, it’s vastly different from something like Strange Things, refusing to copy the same techniques that have worked for streamers before. Instead, this slow burn pulls the Western genre out of the usual clichés and marries it to the supernatural thriller, resulting in a show you’d never expect to see on television. Given the mix of genres, the possibilities with Outer Range are endless, and if that first season finale says anything about the future of this series, it’s going to be off the rails. There’s something going on in the small town of Wabang, Wyoming, and it’s time we learned exactly what it is.
Outer Range is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.
Watch on Prime Video