How Quentin Tarantino Can Escape The Drama Surrounding His ‘Final’ Movie

Now that Quentin Tarantino is no longer making “The Movie Critic,” plans for his final movie are up in there. The “Pulp Fiction” and “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood” director has vowed to retire from filmmaking after helming 10 features, and it seems that he’s in a funk because he wants his farewell flick to be perfect. What’s more, he’s even pondered bowing out with his current oeuvre, believing that “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is a worthy swansong, especially in the current climate.

During an appearance at the Sundance Film Festival’s “Elvis Mitchell Suite” (via Entertainment Weekly), Tarantino clamped down on his reluctance to rush into his final film. He revealed that he’s working on a play and feeling disillusioned with the cinematic landscape, which is why filmmaking isn’t at the top of his to-do list. In his own words:

“It was bad enough in 2019, and that was the last f***ing year of movies. That was a s*** deal, as far as I was concerned, the fact that it’s gotten drastically worse? It’s a show-pony exercise. Now the theatrical release, [and] in two weeks, you can watch it on this [streamer] and that one.”

Tarantino added that he’s more focused on writing plays, as the world of theater is a fresh challenge. However, there’s another medium he’s yet to conquer that could also be different and creatively stimulating: television. Tarantino already has an idea for a show that aligns with one of his most critically praised movies, and it would allow him to keep telling visual stories without the pressure of delivering a final movie that needs to meet his lofty expectations.

Quentin Tarantino has written five episodes of “Bounty Law,” the fictional Western series starring Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” The director said that his goal is to possibly shoot it in black and white, and keep the episodes short and sweet, just like the Western shows from the 1950s that inspired “Bounty Law.”

This is a great idea. For a start, “Bounty Law” is tied to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” — the movie Tarantino himself believes is a perfect send-off to his career as a feature filmmaker — so it’s part of a world he and plenty of fans are passionate about. It wouldn’t be too much of a leap either, as Tarantino is familiar with cowboying. With “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful Eight,” he brought Westerns back into the mainstream during periods where horse operas were few and far between, and “Bounty Law” would allow him to channel similar sensibilities.

Not only that, but Tarantino has been toying with the idea of making a Western show for years. He previously wanted to adapt Elmore Leonard’s “Forty Lashes Less One” into a miniseries, but it didn’t come to fruition. Making “Bounty Law” would allow him to scratch his TV Western itch, and following the success of Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” franchise, there’s an audience for cowboy-themed entertainment on the small screen.

More than anything, “Bounty Law” would allow Tarantino to apply his cinematic skillset to a like-minded medium, albeit without the pressure of it being an actual movie. Television could be a great outlet for his type of storytelling, but the reality of this one coming to fruition is more complicated than it should be.

While Quentin Tarantino has been open about his interest in making TV shows, his disillusionment with contemporary trends could stop that dream from coming true. He’s been vocal about his dislike of streamers like Netflix, so that potentially rules out several platforms who might be interested in greenlighting a show like “Bounty Law.” On top of that, Tarantino simply believes that cinema is better than television, as he explained on “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2024:

“[T]here’s not a payoff on this stuff [in TV shows]. It’s just more interconnectional drama, and while I’m watching it, that’s good enough. But when it’s over, I couldn’t tell you… I can remember who the bad guy was in the first season of ‘Yellowstone’ because it was Danny Huston, I remember him in it, but I don’t remember any of the details of it, and I don’t remember any of the bad guys for season 2 or season 3. It’s out of my head.”

Tarantino modeled “Bounty Law” after the Westerns TV shows of yesteryear as he believes they fit a lot of story into their runtimes, with structured beginnings, middles, and ends. If anything, he should make it to counteract the modern series he believes have no memorable payoffs. Not only would “Bounty Law” allow him to get past his final film funk, but it could also be the change he wants to see on the small screen.