Watch Out, Taylor Sheridan: Steven Spielberg Is Making His First-Ever Western After 55 Years

2 weeks ago 9

Published Mar 13, 2026, 4:21 PM EDT

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Disclosure Day is hitting theaters this summer, but director Steven Spielberg is already teasing a future project. While speaking at South by Southwest today, Spielberg revealed that he has a Western in development...and that it "kicks ass." Collider's Ross Bonaime was on the scene.

During the SXSW keynote address, Spielberg discussed the possibility of alien life, made a dig at Timothée Chalamet's ill-advised knocks on opera and ballet, and also gave a quick tease of his next film, which promises to be a rip-roarin' good time. Says Spielberg, "...can’t reveal anything right now, but I have a western in development…and it kicks ass. There will be horses. There will be guns. There will be no tropes, I can tell you that. There’s going to be no stereotypes." He also hopes to shoot the film in Texas, which was red meat for SXSW's Austin audience. Spielberg has long endeavored to make a Western; it's one of the few genres he hasn't touched on in his directorial career, which now spans across six decades.

What Do We Know About 'Disclosure Day'?

Spielberg has long been interested in both the hopes and fears surrounding extraterrestrial life, as seen in his previous films Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, War of the Worlds, and even Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. However, for his first alien-based movie in almost two decades, he's taken on a decidedly modern look at the material, leapfrogging off the disclosure of official government records of alleged alien contact. Emily Blunt will star as a Kansas City meteorologist who starts experience strange phenomena, and joins forces with a conspiracy theorist (Josh O'Connor) to learn more. The film also stars Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, and Wyatt Russell. It reunites Spielberg with three frequent collaborators: screenwriter David Koepp, cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, and composer John Williams.

While Spielberg has never directed a Western, he has served as the producer on a number of films in the genre, ranging from Back to the Future Part III to Cowboys and Aliens to An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. He also produced the 2005 TNT TV miniseries Into the West: the ambitious project followed two families, one white and one Native American, as they cross paths on the frontier in a period spanning from 1820 to 1890.

Steven Spielberg's mystery Western is in development. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.