Scott Eastwood, son of legendary director and Western icon Clint Eastwood, is officially joining the stacked cast of the upcoming Wind River sequel. Eastwood joins Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), Alan Ruck (Succession) and Chaske Spencer (The English) in the highly anticipated follow-up to Taylor Sheridan's acclaimed directorial debut. It's unclear at this point what roles each actor will be taking on.
Sheridan wrote and directed the first film in 2017, which starred Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as a Wyoming hunter and rookie FBI agent, respectively, investigating the murder of a young woman on a local Indian Reservation (Yellowstone's Kelsey Asbille). Though there's no word on whether either actor will appear in Wind River: The Next Chapter (at this point, it's looking like no), Martin Sensmeier (1883) will reprise his role as Chip Hanson and Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone) will return in his role as Chip's father, Martin.
The official description per Variety reads: "the sequel involves the investigation into a series of ritualistic murders on the Wind River reservation. To solve the case, the FBI enlists Chip Hanson, a newly minted tracker for the U.S. Fish & Game, who becomes embroiled in a desperate and dangerous fight between the authorities, a vigilante, and the reservation." Production has kicked off in Calgary.
Sheridan (currently busy trying to figure out what's going on with Yellowstone season 5) won't actually be involved with the project. Kari Skogland (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) will be stepping in as director, and Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) are behind the screenplay.
Wind River was filmed on the real reservation of the same name in Wyoming. Sheridan was inspired to write the story of an indigenous woman tragically losing her life after reading thousands of stories just like it, he told NPR in 2017.
"This issue with sexual assault against women on the reservation - I mean, it's existed since the inception of a reservation system. But, really, in the past 15, 20 years, it's exploded. And it gets no attention, which is the motivation for writing the film."
READ MORE: The Ultimate Taylor Sheridan Streaming Guide: Where to Watch Everything From 'Sicario' to 'Yellowstone'
