It was more than 18 months ago that we learned John Hillcoat will adapt Blood Meridian, perhaps our era’s quintessential piece of cinema-defying material. What’s eluded a list of auteurs from notable (Todd Field) to intriguing (Tommy Lee Jones) to Ymmv (Ridley Scott) to Dear God (James Franco) had now fallen to a director most, regardless their opinion on his films, would call a journeyman––a journeyman who also earned Cormac McCarthy’s blessing as executive producer and one-time screenwriting volunteer. The time since has seen its author’s passing and (notwithstanding John Logan joining as scribe) little else on Hillcoat’s project.

Credit goes to Alexander Sorondo, who’s penned a five-part investigation into McCarthy’s later years on his Substack big reader bad grades. Reading requires a $5 subscription that’s more than worth the price of admission––safe to say the reclusive novelist has rarely seemed so available.