How John Wayne Almost Kept ‘Lonesome Dove’ From Being Made

When Lonesome Dove aired in 1989, it became one of television’s most beloved miniseries, winning multiple Emmy Awards and cementing its place as a Western classic. Today, both the show and the book that inspired it are winning over a new generation of fans, based on recommendations of everyone from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan to Stephen King himself. But long before Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones brought Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call to iconic life, Lonesome Dove almost came to an end — before it was published as a book, it was a script for a film that never got made.