Outer Range

Premise

Royal Abbott is a Wyoming rancher who is fighting for his land and family. He discovers a mysterious black void in the pasture after the arrival of a female drifter, Autumn, who has a connection to Abbott's ranch. While the Abbott family copes with the disappearance of their daughter-in-law Rebecca, they are pushed further to the brink when a rival family, the Tillersons, try to take over their land.

Cast and characters

Main

Josh Brolin as Royal Abbott, owner of Abbott ranch, husband of Cecilia, and father of Rhett and Perry

Teaguen Arbogast portrays Royal Abbott as a child and Christian James portrays him as a young adult (season 2)

Imogen Poots as Autumn, a strange young woman who arrives at the Abbott ranch and camps out on the land

Lili Taylor as Cecilia Abbott, the wife of Royal and mother of Rhett and Perry

Megan West portrays young Cecilia Abbott (season 2)

Tom Pelphrey as Perry Abbott, Royal's elder son and the father of Amy

Tamara Podemski as Deputy Sheriff Joy Hawk, the acting sheriff of the county where the town of Wabang is situated.

Lewis Pullman as Rhett Abbott, Royal's younger son

Noah Reid as Billy Tillerson, the younger son of the Tillerson family

Shaun Sipos as Luke Tillerson, the elder son of the Tillerson family

Preston Alkire portrays young Luke Tillerson

Olive Elise Abercrombie as Amy Abbott, the 9-year-old daughter of Perry

Isabel Arraiza as Maria Olivares, a bank teller that Rhett is interested in

Recurring

Will Patton as Wayne Tillerson, the father of Billy and Luke and head of the family

Thaddeus Wojcik portrays young Wayne Tillerson as a child (season 1) and Daniel Abeles portrays him as a young adult

Matt Lauria as Trevor Tillerson (season 1; guest season 2)

Matthew Maher as Deputy Matt (season 1; guest season 2)

MorningStar Angeline as Martha Hawk, the wife of Joy Hawk.

Ofelia Garcia as Rose Hawk

Deirdre O'Connell as Patricia Tillerson (season 1; guest season 2), the mother of Billy and Luke, and Wayne's estranged ex-wife

Kristen Connolly (guest season 1) and Monette Moio (season 2) as Rebecca Abbott, Perry's missing wife

Sam Strike as Deputy Jess Chinlund (season 2)

Johnny Sneed as Pastor Ken (season 2)

Guest

Yrsa Daley-Ward as Dr. Nia Bintu

William Sterchi as Todd Barney

Barry Del Sherman as Frank (season 1)

Kevin Chamberlin as Karl Cleaver (season 1)

William Belleau as Lewis Mays (season 2)

Kimberly Guerrero as Falling Star (season 2)

Michael O'Neill as Judge Pettigrew (season 2)

Deborah Strang as Mustang Sally (season 2)

Jim Beaver as Mr. Farber (season 2)

John Ales as Shelton Cape (season 2)

Lily Joy Winder as Flowers (season 2)

River Novin as Mountain Lion (season 2)

Tatanka Means as Officer Edgar (season 2)

Tokala Black Elk as Officer Daniel (season 2)

Production

In February 2020, it was announced that Josh Brolin had signed on to star in Outer Range. The series is executive produced by Brolin, Brian Watkins, Zev Borow, Heather Rae, Robin Sweet, Lawrence Trilling, Amy Seimetz, Tony Krantz, and Brad Pitt through his Plan B Entertainment. In December 2020, it was announced that Lewis Pullman, Noah Reid, Shaun Sipos, and Isabel Arraiza had joined the cast, alongside Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Tamara Podemski, and Tom Pelphrey. In April 2023, Christian James, Megan West, Daniel Abeles, Kimberly Guerrero, and Monette Moio were cast in recurring roles for the second season.

The series marks Brolin's first television series role in nearly 20 years. It was filmed over the course of eight months in Las Vegas, New Mexico. On October 6, 2022, Amazon renewed the series for a second season. Principal photography for the second season began in April 2023.

Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans composed the series' music. Milan Records have released the soundtrack.

Episodes

Release

A teaser trailer was released on March 9, 2022. The first two episodes of the eight-episode first season premiered on Prime Video on April 15, 2022, with two new episodes premiering each week.

The seven-episode second season was released on May 16, 2024.

Reception

Critical response

The first season was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 53 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Outer Range's plethora of subplots threaten to get sucked into a wormhole of ponderousness, but at least this sci-fi Western is anything but plain." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 60 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Ryan Britt of Inverse called the series "one of the boldest, weirdest, and most affecting sci-fi shows of the 21st century" and praised the performances of Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots and Tamara Podemski. The New York Post's Michael Starr wrote, "Outer Range a bit touch-and-go in terms of its interest factor but, then again, you'll want to know how it all turns out, thanks to the sci-fi twist that saves it from mediocrity." Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com lauded Brolin, Poots and Lili Taylor's performances and said that the series is "the rare kind of genre-bending work that leaves one wounded in its fresh take on our human existence while offering untold possibilities." Katie Rife of Polygon commended the direction, performances (particularly Brolin and Poots), soundtrack, and musical score.

In a mixed review, Alison Foreman of The A.V. Club graded the series with a "C" and wrote, "Despite the promise of a stunning natural setting and a big ol' hole to throw things into, Watkins can't quite come into his own. Even as the soapy interpersonal stories ramp up, there's a nagging feeling Outer Range never goes far enough." Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the writing and pacing, saying that "the most infuriating thing about Outer Range, and there are a lot of infuriating things about it, is how almost nobody on-screen is asking any of the questions that audiences will be asking. And, in its general lack of hole-directed inquisitiveness, the narrative progresses at a bizarrely glacial pace." Nonetheless, Fienberg praised the performances of Brolin, Podemski, Poots and Tom Pelphrey. Kristen Lopez of IndieWire criticized the writing and incoherent tone, while praising the performances of its cast. Lopez graded the series with a "D".

The season was named the 19th best TV show of 2022 by Inverse. TVLine labeled it as the "most underrated drama" of the year.

The second season received mostly positive critical reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 92% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "With a better handle on its characters and a willingness to get even weirder, Outer Range's sophomore outing is in the zone." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.