Image via HBO Max
Published Apr 12, 2026, 8:56 AM EDT
Thomas Butt is a senior writer. An avid film connoisseur, Thomas actively logs his film consumption on Letterboxd and vows to connect with many more cinephiles through the platform. He is immensely passionate about the work of Martin Scorsese, John Ford, and Albert Brooks. His work can be read on Collider and Taste of Cinema. He also writes for his own blog, The Empty Theater, on Substack. He is also a big fan of courtroom dramas and DVD commentary tracks. For Thomas, movie theaters are a second home. A native of Wakefield, MA, he is often found scrolling through the scheduled programming on Turner Classic Movies and making more room for his physical media collection. Thomas habitually increases his watchlist and jumps down a YouTube rabbit hole of archived interviews with directors and actors. He is inspired to write about film to uphold the medium's artistic value and to express his undying love for the art form. Thomas looks to cinema as an outlet to better understand the world, human emotions, and himself.
In an age where it's far too common to conform to mediocrity and sell out, you have to respect Kevin Costner's ambition. When he embarks on a new project, he goes for broke. In the case of Horizon: An American Saga, Costner put his money where his mouth was. The actor-director's audacious vision can amount to unlikely triumphs like Dances with Wolves or grave follies like Waterworld and The Postman. But with each project, he always did it his way.
With Horizon, we have yet to see Costner fulfill his vision due to the financial and critical disappointment of Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1, which he invested his own money into. In the end, Costner's creative autonomy and courage got the better of him, as audiences confirmed that their interest in a four-part Western epic was little to none. Now that the lone chapter in the Horizon saga is streaming on HBO Max, this strange, incomplete object can take on a whole new life.
Kevin Costner's 'Horizon: An American Saga' Was a Critical and Commercial Flop in 2024
As his star power waned, Kevin Costner found a second life on the small screen as the face of one of America's top shows, Yellowstone. At the height of its popularity, Costner walked away from the role of John Dutton to pursue his most audacious cinematic effort yet: a Western epic split across four lengthy feature films for wide theatrical release. With the first two chapters completed and ready for release in the summer of 2024 and the last two still filming and awaiting additional finances, Costner, serving as writer, director, and star, took a huge gamble, but he's won plenty of major pots before.
Unfortunately, Horizon — Chapter 1 appears to be the only installment in the series for the foreseeable future, joining Universal's ill-fated Dark Universe in the group of franchises that called their shot but failed to launch after their first installment. Releasing wide in June 2024, Horizon, which grossed $38 million worldwide on a reported $50 budget for its debut chapter alone, proved to be another Waterworld and Postman for Costner, rather than Dances with Wolves. The reviews were mixed at best, but many critics and viewers found it difficult to properly critique the film due to its incomplete narrative. The film's ending was an outright teaser trailer for Chapter 2, which Warner Bros. pulled from its August 2024 release following the first chapter's financial disappointment.
Kevin Costner's 'Horizon — Chapter 1' Is an Incomplete Western With Great Ambition
As of 2026, the fate of Horizon's second part receiving a theatrical release — let alone being released in any fashion — is in jeopardy. Not only has there been no confirmation on Costner's or Warner Bros.' part, but a recent lawsuit surrounding a stunt performer's claim of being put in a rape scene without warning has cast a dark shadow over the entire saga. As a result, Chapter 1's existence itself is utterly strange, as the film itself can hardly be considered a whole feature because Costner actively avoids any resolution with its numerous characters and sprawling storylines, which are set in the Old American West in 1859. First-time viewers years from now watching it on HBO Max without the knowledge that this was once part of a series will surely be perplexed by the multiple character and plot setups without any payoff.
Costner's assurance that Horizon would be an epic saga designed to revive the Western genre in film is evident in the structure of the inaugural chapter, a glorified pilot episode of television lacking the conventional structure of a stand-alone feature. The television-like pacing gives this three-hour film an often gruelingly languid pace, and the onslaught of new character origins becomes increasingly overwhelming. While its robust cast, featuring Sam Worthington, Sienna Miller, Abbey Lee, Luke Wilson, Danny Huston, and Tatanka Means, delivers inspired performances, they're not provided ample enough material for their characters to feel fleshed out.
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When engaging with the film as a pilot episode of television at home — a much different sensation than being locked in a theater for three hours — Horizon's redeeming qualities will be far more rewarding. Its classic Western setpieces, notably the harrowing raids in the opening act and the slow-burn standoff between Hayes Ellison (Costner) and an outlaw, grab your attention instantly. After three feature films, Kevin Costner has fine-tuned his craft behind the camera, giving every action-oriented scene a visceral edge. As a modern icon of the Western, Costner is well-versed in the genre's history and tropes, and Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 converges the classic sensibilities of John Ford with the cynical revisionist commentary of Clint Eastwood. If only the film could have the framework of an individual, stand-alone feature, then everything would have gelled. With the future of the Horizon saga in serious doubt, Chapter 1 will forever be a bizarre object in Costner's career.
English (US) ·