Kevin Costner And Bill Paxton Series Is Coming To Netflix And You Need To Watch It
The acclaimed series Hatfields & McCoys will stream on Netflix beginning April 1.
Kevin Costner established his cred as a Western actor well before Yellowstone came along. In fact, back in 2012, he starred in the acclaimed docu-drama Hatfields & McCoys, and the series helped audiences explore the famous feud between two warring families on the border of West Virginia and Kentucky. Recently, there may have been a similarly bitter feud over who would stream this award-winning series, and it’s clear who came out on top: What’s On Netflix reports that this dramatic series starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton is coming to Netflix in April.
If you’re wanting to see Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton square off as the patriarchs of rival families, you’ll have to wait until April to stream it on Netflix. The good news is that you have something really special to look forward to. At the time this docu-drama aired, it was the History channel’s first time showing scripted entertainment, and the sheer success and popularity of this miniseries ended up forever changing the focus of that network.
We can’t help but wonder if the executives of the beleaguered streaming platform are hoping that by airing this famous Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton miniseries, they can cause some of its good luck to rub off onto Netflix. When Hatfields & McCoys premiered on the History Channel (back before they made all those weird shows about aliens), 13.9 million viewers tuned in, giving the network the greatest ratings it had ever had. This permanently changed the landscape of network television, and the miniseries generally won over critics as well as fans.
Before you watch Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton battle it out on Netflix next month, you probably have a reasonable question: does it still hold up over a decade later? The answer is a resounding “yes,” and the critics agree. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a 71 percent rating, meaning that if you enjoy Westerns like Yellowstone and its spinoffs like Yellowstone: 1923, you are likely to enjoy this more historical perspective on the challenges of true frontier life.
Another reason that execs wanted to secure this Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton dramatic series for Netflix is that it won numerous prestigious awards. Costner was at the center of many of these awards: he was awarded a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. And we like to think the popularity and prestige of this miniseries is one of the reasons that Costner eventually said yes to starring in Yellowstone.
If you’re getting excited about seeing if this battle between Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton actually lives up to the hype when it drops on Netflix, you’ll be excited to know that it won’t take you that long to watch all of it. Sometimes, it can be intimidating to catch up on a series when it has too many episodes (One Piece is probably the greatest offender in this regard), but that’s not the case with Hatfields & McCoys. The series is broken up into three parts and each is about the length of a short movie, making it easy for you to either binge the whole show in one sitting or savor it across three nights of gruff Western goodness.
The final reason execs wanted to bring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton’s epic adventure to Netflix is simple: they like to bring recognizable brands to the network, and the sheer popularity of Hatfields & McCoys helped transform it into a brand unto itself. To this day, a thriving tourism industry revolves around taking history buffs into the same areas of Kentucky where the action went down between these rival families.
If people are willing to make special trips to the middle of nowhere because they are so invested in these events, then Netflix can count on many fans streaming this miniseries next month.
If all the news about the next half of Yellowstone’s season 5 getting delayed has you down, then you’ll hopefully enjoy seeing Kevin Costner (albeit in a very different role) and Bill Paxton clashing in this very different Western adventure on Netflix. It’s a series that earned a whopping five Primetime Emmys, proving itself a hit among movie snobs and history buffs alike. However, if you end up trying a wacky southern accent around your friends after binging this series, just be aware that we won’t be held liable.
