HBO Max revives The Last of the Mohicans as an event series

Not long after wrapping his upcoming James Bond film, NO TIME TO DIE, it’s been announced that filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga’s THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS reboot has found a home with HBO Max. Joining Fukunaga for the TV series based on James Fenimore Cooper’s classic novel is WATCHMEN director Nicole Kassell, who will shoot the update from a script penned by Fukunaga and Nick Osbourne.

The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news, in addition to sharing that the new version is set to be a retelling of the author’s French and Indian War novel that focuses on the unlikely romance between Uncas, a young Mohican, and Cora, the mixed-race daughter of a British colonel.

Development for Fukunaga’s THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS reboot began back in April, courtesy of Paramount Television, where Fukunaga has a first-look deal. As per the set up, Fukunaga, Osbourne and Kassell will serve as executive producers as part of a partnership with Anonymous Content’s Alex Goldstone and Bard Dorros as well as Sugar23’s Michael Sugar. Previously, Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans was adapted into a 1920 film that the Library of Congress considers to be a “culturally significant” slice of cinema. Moreover, the 1920 version, as directed by Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur, is also a part of the U.S. National Film Registry.

In more recent times, director Michael Mann adapted Cooper’s story for the big screen yet again in 1992. Mann’s version starred Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe), with Russell Means as Chingachgook, and Madeleine Stowe as Cora Munro.

When Fukunaga and Kassell’s Mohicans arrives, theirs will be the latest telling of a story that revolves around a romance birthed in taboo, and tested by the anguish and devastating effects of war. This project is considered by many to be a major get for HBO Max, especially as Fukunaga and Kassell’s stars continue to rise throughout their burgeoning careers.