Casey Affleck to star in new Lewis and Clark miniseries for HBO

Maybe it's just me, but I think the world needs a hell of a lot more of Casey Affleck. The actor is extremely talented, and for the most part, picks solid projects to work on, which is why I'm very excited Affleck has been cast in HBO's new six-hour miniseries Lewis and Clark.

Casey Affleck will play famous American explorer Meriwether Lewis in the miniseries, and it will be executive produced by Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt. Behind the camera will be John Curran (TRACKS, STONE, THE PAINTED VEIL), and Curran co-wrote the script for Lewis and Clark with Edward Norton, who is also executive producing. The miniseries will be adapted from the Stephen Ambrose (the same guy who wrote Band of Brothers) book Undaunted Courage.

Here's the book description from Amazon:

In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a vivid backdrop for the expedition. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson’s. There are numerous Indian chiefs, and Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition, along with the French-Indian hunter Drouillard, the great naturalists of Philadelphia, the French and Spanish fur traders of St. Louis, John Quincy Adams, and many more leading political, scientific, and military figures of the turn of the century.

Lewis and Clark sounds like it could be something special. Everyone involved has worked on fantastic projects in the past, and even if Casey Affleck wasn't going to star in the miniseries, I'd still be pretty pumped for Lewis and Clark. Maybe since Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are producing, they'll also end up having a role (even if it's a small part) in Lewis and Clark. No word on when Lewis and Clark might start production or when it will air, but I'm definitely interested in checking out HBO's new miniseries.