Billy the Kid ranks amongst the top outlaws of the wild west in real life. The new series Billy the Kid seeks to tell the western story into a more romantic adventure.

The series is based on the life of the famous American outlaw Billy the Kid also known as William H. Bonney—from his humble Irish roots to his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond.

The cast includes Tom Blyth (The Gilded Age, Benediction) as Billy and Daniel Webber (The Dirt, Escape From Pretoria) as Jesse Evans. Michael Hirst serves as the writer and executive producer with Donald De Line as executive producer.

During the Television Critics Association this week, Tom Blyth addressed the commonality with Billy the Kid on the series.

“What’s really fascinating from the start that was very clear is that Michael [Hirst] and I both shared this kind of love of the Western tale, even though we both grew up as young boys in Norfolkshire in England. So geographically, on paper, we couldn’t be farther removed, but I think actually that it would be—you’d be making a mistake to kind of assume that there’s too much difference there because there’s something about him that sung to me from the very, very beginning,” said Tom Blyth.

He continued, “He grew up in a house with a strong mother, who was very principled and taught him how to move through the world with strength, grace, and humility, but also savviness. I was raised in a house where with a single mother and strong woman who brought me up with the same kind of strength. A way of being a man in the world is by being strong and having principles.”

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For Blyth, he indicated that Billy being an immigrant shaped him as a person during that time period.

“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—looking for something bigger—I can relate to that,” said Blyth. “There’s a survivor in him, which I always related to. He has this fight-or-flight mentality and the willingness to dig in and fight for what you believe in. That is very attractive to me.”

Billy the Kid premieres on Sunday, April 24 on EPIX.

Source: EPIX, TCA 2022