HBO tackles Lone Star State politics in 'God Save Texas'

HBO tackles Lone Star State politics in 'God Save Texas'


A new series coming to soon to HBO about the world of Texas politics will undoubtedly have no shortage of fodder, given our state's cast of characters in higher positions of power.

According to movie news site Deadline, veteran film and TV producer Lauren Shuler Donner and theater producer Margo Lion took a shine to author-playwright Lawrence Wright's 2005 play "Sonny's Last Shot," about an "idealistic cowboy who, looking to save his ranch and marriage, tries to get elected to the Texas Legislature, where he becomes the target of the powerful energy lobby and learns how to survive in the crazy, brutal world of Texas politics."
Donner's past production credits include all of the X-Men flicks and a host of other Hollywood hits. Her husband is legendary director Richard Donner ("Lethal Weapon" series, "Goonies").

The series, called "God Save Texas", been put into development by HBO, with Wright producing and writing.  According to Deadline, the show's pilot could begin production soon.

As of now there are few details about where the show will be shot, with the Austin Film Commission saying Tuesday that it hasn't heard of any production work scheduled for that city, which would be a logical locale.

No casting decisions have been made public as of yet. (Is that Matthew McConaughey guy busy?)
Deadline says that the first season of the "God Save Texas" is due to feature a storyline about the Texas drought.

“No other state is so stereotyped in the public imagination, so there’s plenty of opportunity to present this complex, intimate and often screwy world in a fresh and surprising manner. For better or worse, political ideas spill out of Texas and take an outsized place in the national conversation, as they certainly will in the next presidential election. Whether you love Texas or hate it, better to understand it, because here it comes again," Wright told Deadline.
Through a spokeswoman with this publisher, Wright said that he’s not doing interviews at the moment, as it is still early days yet on the project.

With folks like Rick Perry, Wendy Davis, Ted Cruz, Greg Abbot, and the like roaming the halls of power here in the Lone Star State, this HBO series should have plenty of ammunition for a dozen seasons of TV. We can probably all expect plenty of outlandish accents and barbecue lunches to be involved.

As Shuler Donner said herself, "You can't make up characters like this."
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