Pedro Pascal would have been a gunslinger in this failed Western TV series
The big picture
- Pedro Pascal had a prominent role in the unaired TV pilot episode The sixth weapon before his breakthrough role in game of Thrones.
- The sixth weapon is based on a comic series and tells the story of six weapons with supernatural abilities.
- The pilot featured an all-star cast including Pascal, Aldis Hodge, Elena Satine and more. Although the series was never picked up, many of the cast went on to have successful careers.
Before he became one of the hottest and most sought-after actors in the world, Pedro Pascal worked on many television shows and also worked on some prolific TV pilots that were never picked up for series – not even the unaired ones David E Kelley Wonder Woman TV pilot in the lead role Adrianne Palicki. But just before Pascal landed his breakthrough role as Oberyn Martell game of ThronesHe had a starring role in another television pilot that never aired: The sixth weapon. Based on the comic of the same name by Cullen Bunn And Brian HurttThe series featured a star-studded cast – not to mention that Pascal would have played an antagonistic gunslinger in the Wild West. Additionally, there is an amusing connection between the cast of this show and Pascal’s later hit series. The Mandalorian.
What is “The Sixth Gun” about?
The Oni Press comic The sixth weapon tells the story of six mythical weapons of otherworldly origin, each of which grants its owner supernatural abilities. However, the Sixth Weapon is the key to controlling them all, and together they can trigger the apocalypse. NBC gave the company a pilot order for a television series in early 2013. The series had a strong tradition of executive producers Carlton Cuse And Ryan Condal. (Cuse previously served as showrunner for the TV phenomenon Lostwhich was completed in 2010.) The sixth weapon was announced back in 2011 as a project for another NBCUniversal network, the SyFy Channel, but NBCUniversal instead chose to pursue the IP as a project for its main network.
Bunn and Hurtt’s comic was a cult favorite, and the number of comic adaptations on television was steadily increasing at the time. Arrow had already become a hit on The CW and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD was in progress at the time. Robert Kirkman‘S The walking dead had also become a breakout hit for AMC with its live-action series first airing in 2010. However, NBC ultimately decided to omit the pilot and did not order it to be adapted into a television series. So The sixth weapon The series will always be remembered as a case of what might have been.
“The Sixth Gun” is Old West meets the Supernatural
Although it may seem strange now, Pascal wasn’t even the main actor in the proposal Sixth weapon Series. In the pilot, Pascal is one half of a Pinkerton detective duo, Special Agent Ortega. Meanwhile, his partner is Special Agent Mercer, portrayed by Aldis Hodge. The powerful and rich Missy Hume (Elena Satine) tasks Ortega and Mercer with tracking down a former monk named Montcrief (René Auberjonois). Montcrief now possesses the mythical Sixth Weapon, which once belonged to Missy’s husband, the disgraced General Oliander Hume (W. Earl Brown). Missy Hume wants Montcrief and the gun returned to her.
The ailing Montcrief is looked after by his kind daughter Becky (Laura Ramsey), on a remote farm outside the town of Brimstone, where Agents Mercer and Ortega track down Becky and her father by ordering their agents to attack the farm. Montcrief manages to use the powerful weapon to fight them off, and it appears that this weapon has the power of prophecy and the power to kill anyone the wielder points it at with a single shot. Unfortunately, Montcrief is shot in battle, and before he dies, he makes his daughter promise to find a way to destroy the weapon, warning her of its power and not to trust anyone who expresses interest in the weapon. Becky is assisted by traveling gunslinger Drake Sinclair (Michael Huismann) and his companion, Bill John O’Henry (James LeGros).
General Hume himself also aspires to own the weapon. In the pilot’s prologue, the general’s servant, Silas Hedgepeth (Graham McTavish) attacks a church that is an order of secret monks guarding the tomb of General Hume. Hume was able to survive death as a former wielder of the Sixth Gun, but an order of monks imprisoned him in a magical coffin. Silas wields the fourth weapon, which can both kill people and raise the dead into brainwashed zombies. Silas takes Hume back to Brimstone to meet with Missy, who is none too pleased that her husband is back. Missy is the wielder of the Fifth Weapon, which grants her eternal youth.
“The Sixth Gun” had an all-star cast
In addition to the actors mentioned above Chin Hanwho played Missy Hume’s assistant and deputy Chow, is probably best known for his role as Lau in Christopher Nolanis groundbreaking Batman Movie, The Dark Knightin 2008, as well as the most recent live-action Mortal Kombat Movie. Meanwhile, Pascal wasn’t the only actor from the series to join the cast of either game of Thrones; Huisman, who portrayed Drake Sinclair in the pilot, would join and replace him in the series’ fourth season Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis in the Moloch dark fantasy series.
As Becky Montcrief’s father René Auberjonois was certainly best known to fans as Odo of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Meanwhile, Graham McTavish was already playing The Hobbit film trilogy back then, with the first, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, just hit theaters before the pilot was ordered. Last but not least, W. Earl Brown, who played General Hume, is best known for his role as Dan Dority in Dead wood. Overall, the series would have had a pretty impressive cast of acting veterans, all of whom had worked on some prestigious projects before being cast.
Many of the cast went on to have great success in film and television. Hodge was recently seen alongside him Dwayne The Rock Johnson in the DC comic adventure, Black Adam, depicting the classic comic book hero Hawkman. McTavish can currently be seen in the Netflix series The Witcher Series like Sigismund Dijkstra as well game of Thrones spin off House of the Dragon as Harrold Westerling. (McTavish’s connection to The sixth weapon served him well, considering that the pilot’s creator, Ryan J. Condal, would later become the showrunner of House of the Dragon.)
While The sixth weapon Maybe it wasn’t the success story Pascal wanted. Despite his strong ensemble cast and pedigree behind the camera, the actor was soon on his way to bigger and better things. About a year after NBC died The sixth weaponhe debuted on game of Thrones as Oberyn Martell, before his career took off even further with his starring role in the Netflix series Narcos as Javier Peña and leading roles in big films like Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The equalizer 2And Wonder Woman 1984.
Interestingly, although Pascal shares no scenes with Brown’s General Hume, both actors are from The sixth weapon would later share scenes The Mandalorian. In the Season 2 premiere episode, “Chapter 9: The Marshal,” Brown makes his Star Wars debut on the series as Taanti, the Freetown Weequay bartender whom Din Djarin (Pascal) encounters while searching for Marshal Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant). Interesting, The Mandalorian also has a strong Western look and influence. It’s somewhat amusing that years after working on a failed pilot that never made it to theaters, a supernatural western comic drama, the two actors finally starred together in a science fantasy series with a western twist on the screen appeared.
“The Sixth Gun” is a look back at the early stages of Pedro Pascal’s career
Pascal is billed as third or fourth from the top The sixth weapon is a testament to how hard he’s worked throughout his career to achieve his current leading man status, now that he’s starring in both lead roles The Mandalorian and the global phenomenon The last of us. As a lackey on behalf of the evil Missy Hume, Pascal’s Agent Ortega, along with Hodge’s Agent Mercer, spends most of the pilot pursuing Becky after she obtains the sixth weapon. At least Pascal looks and sounds believable for the western setting.
Agents Ortega and Mercer see little opportunity for the development of important characters. The only thing they have in common is that they are corrupt Pinkerton detectives working for Missy Hume to find the Montcriefs and the Sixth Gun, and they have no qualms about getting their hands dirty. Although they’re not quite like a comedy duo, they do have a certain bebop and rocksteady vibe to them. Mercer and Ortega are shown for the last time in the pilot episode, having returned Becky as a prisoner to Missy Hume’s saloon and base of operations. Agent Mercer’s attempt to grab the Sixth Weapon burns an occult mark into his skin. The weapons appear to be satanic and few people can hold them without causing them extreme pain.
While The sixth weapon Even though he never made it into the series, it’s still an entertaining look back at Pascal when his career was still blossoming and in its nascent stages. For now, fans can enjoy Pascal’s work The Mandalorianwhich is now also streaming on Disney+ The last of uswhich is available to stream on Max.
