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Tom Blyth as William H. Bonney on 'Billy the Kid'

Published Mar 21, 2026, 1:22 PM EDT

Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features and reviews, and has interviewed the cast and crew of Dark Winds. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His first work of self-published fiction – The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain – became a #1 Best Seller in "Religious Fiction Short Stories" on Amazon in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.

Most Western-related television these days seems to be content with emphasizing the modern American West. Be it straight neo-Western dramas like Yellowstone, frontier-set procedurals like Marshals, or even sci-fi-adjacent outings like Outer Range, the contemporary genre has mostly set up shop in the present day. If you're looking for a multi-season Western series that ventures back in time to the height of the post-Civil War era, however, then look no further than the riveting Epix-turned-MGM+ drama Billy the Kid.

What Is 'Billy the Kid' About?

Created by Michael Hirst, of Vikings and The Tudors fame, Billy the Kid stars Tom Blyth as the title outlaw who grows into his own over the course of three stellar seasons. The series is a unique take in that it blends fact and fiction so seamlessly that it's sometimes hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. But whether you prefer to learn about the genuine life of the notorious gunslinger or the legends that perpetuated his name, you'll get a bit of both here, with a clear emphasis on the latter as the series progresses.

Blending real-life American history with Western myth, the series follows the evolution of young Henry "Billy" McCarty / William H. Bonney into a gunslinging professional. The reason that Billy takes up the gun is particularly compelling, especially since he soon finds himself at terrible odds with a group of wealthy elites known only as the Santa Fe Ring. This conspiracy spreads throughout the New Mexico Territory (just ignore the fact that the landscape doesn't look much like Lincoln County, as the series was filmed in Canada) and puts him at odds with everyone from his longtime friend Jesse Evans (Daniel Webber) to his former ally-turned-lawman Pat Garrett (Alex Roe).

Tom Blyth as Billy the Kid tipping his hat and wearing a green jacket in a snowy landscape

As Billy leads his group of rebels, dubbed "The Regulators," in the middle of the famed Lincoln County War (a historic conflict that has since inspired Westerns like Shane, Chisum, and the Billy the Kid-based Young Guns movies), he's backed into a corner by everyone from the law to old friends. But none of that stops Billy from fighting his way out and redefining everything you thought you knew about the real-life outlaw. Indeed, in the show's third and final season, Billy the Kid goes so far as to daringly rewrite Billy's historic fate, changing everything about the destruction of the Santa Fe Ring in the process. It's a series that, like many Western yarns before it, grounds itself in true-blue American history but refuses to be bound by it. Instead, the drama uses fiction as a means of embracing a legend that's perhaps more agreeable to modern viewers.

Tom Blyth's Performance Carries 'Billy the Kid'

Ultimately, Billy the Kid works because we're so intimately connected to the title character. Despite those whom he's killed, the series ensures we understand Billy the Kid and his motivations, that he does what he does for (seemingly) the right reasons and not simply because he's a fast gun who cares more about money than human lives and dignity. (Ironically, that's where the Santa Fe Ring comes in.) But this only works because Tom Blyth delivers a career-defining performance as the Regulator-turned-outlaw. Rather than making him so tortured that he can barely seem to function a la Paul Newman in The Left Handed Gun or too energetic about his fame and expert gunplay (as was the case of Emilio Estevez in Young Guns), Blyth plays Billy as a quiet but fierce protector who pivots from defending his family against the Wild West to trying to defend all those under the thumb of the Ring.

In three quick seasons and a total of 24 episodes, Billy the Kid does what many contemporary Western dramas can only hope to accomplish. Sure, it's not entirely faithful to the history books (and, frankly, that may bother some), but it's a thrilling journey that further weaves Billy the Kid into the mythical Western tapestry that upholds the genre. Like many horse operas before (and likely plenty after), the show leans into what makes the story great rather than being bogged down by every historical detail.