The life of William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, gets dramatized for a new generation in the EPIX original series. “I thought I knew things about him, but when I started doing the research, I realized that I knew very, very little indeed,” revealed writer and executive producer Michael Hirst during a TCA press conference. “I had cliched ideas about him that he’s probably psychopathic, that he was a born killer, that he was a roughneck. What I didn’t know was about his background, born of Irish immigrants, very devoted to his Catholic mother who taught him to respect women, to read, and to emphasize with the underdog. He had a beautiful singing voice. He played musical instruments. He was incredibly sensitive. As he said himself, he was more sinned against than sinning. He’s a wonderfully attractive character. He’s a compelling character. Writing about him, thinking about him, I grew to love him, and I hope that the audience will love him as much as I do.
(EPIX/MGM)
Playing Billy is Tom Blyth, who found that he had a lot in common with the historical figure, despite growing up in England instead of the American West. “Geographically, on paper, we couldn't be more far removed, but I think actually you'd be making a mistake to assume that there's too much difference there because there's something about him that sung to me from the very, very beginning,” The actor revealed. “He grew up in a house with a strong female presence. He was brought up by this incredibly strong mother, who was very principled and taught him how to move through the world with strength, grace, and humility, but also savviness. And I was raised in a house with a single mother and strong women who brought me up with the same kind of strength and showed me a way of being a man in the world while still being strong and having principle. But really I think for me, the immigration side of it is very interesting. I think moving to America six years ago as a 21-year-old and stepping into a new world, kind of looking for something bigger, I relate to that. I relate to the idea of going out there and searching for something bigger. And there's a survivor in him, which I always related to, something about the scrappiness. I've always felt that kind of fight-or-flight mentality and usually a willingness to dig in and fight for what you believe in.”
The strong mother that Michael and Tom referenced is Kathleen McCarthy, portrayed by Eileen O’Higgins. “She's a survivor so she's going to do what it takes to survive, and she's full of hope,” Eileen said of her character. “All of her things are aspirations for something better. And even if it's not for her personally, she definitely believes it will be for Billy. So for Kathleen, things like fever and education, teaching her son how to read. She can't physically put money in his pocket but making him smarter and making him aware of the world that he's entering into is going to give him the tools to succeed in this very harsh climate. It's a beautiful relationship, it's very complex.”
One of Billy’s most famous legends is a gunfight with Jesse Evans, who is played by Daniel Webber. “I grew up, like all boys, playing Cowboys and Indians,” Daniel shared. “It was really thrilling to find yourself on set and living out this sort of childhood dream. I wouldn’t have said I knew a huge amount about Billy himself. I guess my main in with this sort of world was horses. I grew up racing horses and riding horses, and so I came in really at that level trying to bring that to the job and just touching that part of myself and my growing up, the speed of horses, the racing horses. I mean, Jesse is a cattle rustler, and their whole livelihood was based purely around, if you didn’t have your horses, and you were on the dodge, there was a really good chance that you’re probably not going to come out alive. It’s such a crucial tool. So I loved getting to fulfill that part of myself as a man, and it was just beautiful that it’s so deeply connected to a western story.”
Michael Hirst summarized why this was such an important story for him to tell. “My grandma was a librarian growing up, and I was a latchkey kid, so I would walk home every night from school, and I’d stop by the library on the way home, and I was always drawn to the western section. I would sit there and read western books for hours until it was time to go home. I wish I could tell you exactly why that was, but I think it’s something about this idea of an unknown landscape that is both brutal and romantic. I took a trip to New Mexico to prepare for the role, and there’s nowhere like it. I mean, the sunsets are magical and spiritual, and you can see why people arrived there and went, ‘Oh, my God. This is heaven on earth,’ and then realize that what they’d been promised when they got there was quite, quite different, and they had to fight to create their little pocket of heaven, and it wasn’t always clean. It wasn’t always done in the right way, but I think the idea of striving for a more rich life appeals to everyone.”
The first three episodes of Billy the Kid are now streaming exclusively on EPIX.