Cast, Plot, and Everything We Know

Publish date: 2024-07-29

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Before Yellowstone became the crowning glory of his career, Taylor Sheridan wrote and directed 2017’s Wind River in his true directorial debut. Six years later, the award-winning film is getting a sequel, titled Wind River: The Next Chapter. The 2017 neo-Western crime thriller about a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracker and an FBI agent who investigate a teenager’s murder on Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation makes for a masterpiece. Although Sheridan is not involved in the project, the upcoming film serves as a sequel to his original work and returns to the same reservation in the cold and harsh frozen hinterlands of Wyoming. Directed by Kari Skogland and written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman, Wind River: The Next Chapter explores a new chapter of crimes and gruesome deaths in the reservation, where Chip Hanson from the first film returns as a newly appointed tracker/hunter and helps the FBI investigate a series of ritualistic killings on his home ground.

On its premiere in 2017, Wind River became a hit among fans and turned out to be the sixth-highest-grossing indie film of the year. The crime thriller film was critically acclaimed for its powerful narrative and strong cast performance, earning Sheridan an award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and several other nominations. Transitioning from an Academy-nominated screenwriter to a director, Sheridan created this neo-Western crime film as a third part of a film trilogy that would tell the stories of “the modern-day American frontier," starting with Sicario in 2015, followed by Hell or High Water in 2016, and ending with Wind River. Although there are no connecting plots or characters across any of these films, they serve as a thematic series, exploring the dark and dangerous outback of the country. The upcoming chapter of Wind River, however, is a direct follow-up to the 2017 film. Although the film’s ending did not necessarily demand a sequel, it is more of a tribute to the foundation that Sheridan laid in the film, where two significant characters from the previous film return with a whole new arc and pick up pieces of the past horror to dig deeper in a new conspiracy. While you wait for the film to arrive anything this year, you can check out our guide below about the film’s plot, trailer, release date, cast, and characters, and everything we know so far about Wind River: The Next Chapter.

Wind River: The Next Chapter
DramaCrime Director Kari Skogland Cast Scott Eastwood , Martin Sensmeier , Chaske Spencer , Jason Clarke Main Genre Drama

When Is Wind River: The Next Chapter Coming Out?wind-river-2017-jeremy-renner-gil-birmingham

With the filming recently ended in April 2023, we can expect Wind River: The Next Chapter to hit the theaters sometime later this year, or early 2024.

RELATED:Taylor Sheridan Delivered the Perfect 10-Minute Ending in His Neo-Western 'Wind River'

Where Can You Watch Wind River: The Next Chapter?

As of now, it looks like the all-new crime film would premiere at the theaters followed by a digital and streaming release. However, considering there’s no release information yet, it is also possible that the film might either get an exclusive theatrical release or arrive only on streaming. Stay tuned for the latest updates on how and where you can watch Wind River: The Next Chapter.

Is There a Wind River: The Next Chapter Trailer?

Unfortunately, there is no trailer or teaser for Wind River: The Next Chapter yet, but since its filming is over, we can expect to see some kind of promo anytime in the coming months.

Who Stars in Wind River: The Next Chapter?

While stories of crimes in the Wyoming reservation continue with Wind River: The Next Chapter, Jeremy Renner as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracker Agent Cory Lambert, and Elizabeth Olsen as FBI Agent Jane Banner will not be returning. Martin Senseier reprises his role as Chip Hanson, a resident of the Wind River reservation and formerly drug-abused brother of the victim, Natalie, in the first film. In the sequel, Chip gets appointed as the new tracker who is enlisted by the FBI to help them look into the new series of murders and find the killer on the loose. He is joined by Gil Birmingham as his father, Martin Hanson, who helped the agents in the previous film to find his daughter’s killer. Sensmeier is best known for his role in HBO’s Westworld, followed by recurring roles in Sheridan’s Yellowstone Season 2 and 1883 Season 1, NBC’s La Brea and Rutherford Falls, as well as in films like The Magnificent Seven, Beyond the Sky, and Ice Road. Besides the Wind River sequel, he will also appear next in the upcoming films, The Things They Carried, Takeover, and The Chickasaw Rancher. Birmingham is also an alum of Sheridan’s projects and is best known for his recurring role in Yellowstone and Hell or High Water. But his most prominent film role is as Billy Black in the Twilight film series. He has also starred in popular television shows like House of Cards, Siren, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Under the Banner of Heaven, among many others.

Earlier this year, Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Alan Ruck (Succession), Scott Eastwood (The Fate of the Furious), Chaske Spencer (The English), Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One), and Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon) fame were also added to the ensemble cast.

Who Is Making Wind River: The Next Chapter?

Canadian director Kari Skogland of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier fame helms the upcoming crime thriller, as a continuation of Taylor Sheridan’s 2017 project. Filmmaker and co-founder of the independent production company Mad Rabbit, Skogland is best known for directing several episodes of highly acclaimed and popular television shows like Boardwalk Empire, Vikings, The Handmaid’s Tale, and House of Cards, among several others. She also directed the films Fifty Dead Men Walking and Liberty Stands Still, among others. Her most recent project includes Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which she directs and produces. Wind River: The Next Chapter is written by the screenwriting duo, Patrick Massett and John Zinman, both of whom are best known for co-writing NBC’s Friday Night Lights. They also wrote the screenplay for the films, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Gold. Massett has additionally served as one of the executive producers and writers for the Battlestar Galactica sequel, Caprica.

Rob Reiner, Michele Reiner, Derrick Rossi, Jonathan Fuhrman, Courtney Shepard, and Hernan Narea of Castle Rock Entertainment serve as the executive producers for Wind River: The Next Chapter, along with Chad Oakes, Michael Frislev, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Nicki Cortese, Joe Simpson, and Simon Williams. Matthew George who also produced Wind River in 2017, serves as a producer for the sequel, along with Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road Films.

Related:'Succession's Alan Ruck Joins 'Wind River: The Next Chapter'

What Is Wind River: The Next Chapter About?

The upcoming sequel picks up a few years after the events of the first film. As per the official synopsis,

“In Wind River: The Next Chapter, terror has escalated on the reservation as a series of ritualistic murders remain unsolved. The FBI therefore enlists the aid of Chip Hanson (Sensmeier), a newly minted tracker for the U.S. Fish & Game, who on the heels of his appearance in Wind River, becomes embroiled in a desperate and dangerous fight between the authorities, a vigilante and the reservation he calls home.”

When Did Wind River: The Next Chapter Film?

The principal photography for Wind River: The Next Chapter started in March 2023, with filming continuing through April 2023 in Calgary, Alberta.

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