--- title: 'Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard’s Brutal Western Stalled Before Filming' type: 'blog post' section: 'Away From Set' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'In 2016, the director of The Martian and the screenwriter now attached to Project Hail Mary planned a film version of S. Craig Zahler’s Wraiths of the Broken Land. The western never moved into production, leaving behind a sharp case of what Hollywood nearly made.' author: 'Marcus Reid' published: '2026-09-02' updated: '2026-09-02' about_people: - 'Ridley Scott' - 'Andy Weir' about_films: - 'Project Hail Mary (2026)' tags: - 'Ridley Scott Wraiths of the Broken Land' - 'Drew Goddard unmade western' - 'S Craig Zahler western adaptation' - 'Wraiths of the Broken Land movie' - 'Ridley Scott western film plans' - 'Project Hail Mary screenwriter Drew Goddard' sources: - 'https://collider.com/ridley-scott-project-hail-mary-drew-goddard-unmade-western/' - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/project-hail-mary-writer-andy-weir-s-next-book-may-tackle-a-hot-button-topic/ar-AA2bmpcu' - 'https://www.aol.com/articles/project-hail-mary-writer-andy-170000000.html' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/ridley-scott-and-drew-goddards-brutal-western-stalled-before-filming' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard’s Brutal Western Stalled Before Filming *In 2016, the director of The Martian and the screenwriter now attached to Project Hail Mary planned a film version of S. Craig Zahler’s Wraiths of the Broken Land. The western never moved into production, leaving behind a sharp case of what Hollywood nearly made.* By Marcus Reid, 2026-09-02 · Away From Set Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard nearly followed The Martian with a western so harsh it might have tested both men’s usual instincts. Collider reports that, in 2016, the pair planned to adapt S. Craig Zahler’s novel Wraiths of the Broken Land, a violent story set near the end of the Old West. The film never reached production, and current signs suggest it remains a “what if” project rather than a movie waiting around the corner. That matters because the pairing made sense on paper and sounded strange in practice. Scott had just worked with Goddard on The Martian. Goddard is now the screenwriter behind Project Hail Mary. Zahler’s book, meanwhile, offers neither a cheerful science problem nor a lovable survivor with a clean moral center. It gives them a rescue mission soaked in mud, fear and bad choices. ## Wraiths of the Broken Land’s rescue mission Zahler’s novel takes place in the early 1900s, when the Old West is on its last legs. Two brothers, their father, several older outlaws and a translator head into Mexico to find two sisters. The women have been abducted and forced to work in a brothel. The setup has the bones of a traditional western: family rides into danger, old criminals pick up their weapons, and a rescue gives the group a reason to keep moving. But Zahler does not make the road comfortable. His books are known for blunt, disturbing violence. Collider places Wraiths of the Broken Land alongside Bone Tomahawk and A Congregation of Jackals as part of his unofficial western trio. The distinction is important. Zahler’s violence is not presented as a punchline or a stylish wink. It is meant to hurt. Bone Tomahawk’s infamous vivisection scene remains the example people reach for because it forces the audience to sit with what bodies can endure. A major studio adapting that material would have to decide how much pain belongs on screen and how much belongs in the reader’s imagination. ![Andy Weir speaking at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/08784edb-0801-4acf-8986-831108423680.webp) *Photo: Gage Skidmore · [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andy_Weir_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg)* ## Why Ridley Scott was an unusual western choice Scott has spent decades moving between science fiction, historical drama, crime stories and spectacle. Collider notes that he has never directed a full western, though Thelma & Louise contains neo-western touches and The Dog Stars continues that interest in rough frontier stories. Still, Scott is not a director who backs away from ugly material. The Last Duel and Brad Pitt’s death in The Counselor show that he can leave an audience staring at something they would rather not see. Wraiths of the Broken Land would have put that side of his work at the center, with no spaceship, empire or courtroom to soften the blow. I can see the appeal. Scott’s eye for hard landscapes and battered faces fits the book’s world. That is hope, not a prediction: the premise suggests a director stepping into unfamiliar ground, and unfamiliar ground can wake up a veteran filmmaker. ![Preparazione del set cinematografico di The Dog Stars di Ridley Scott ad Avezzano (maggio 2025)](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/c94a7d5f-38c2-4173-a4b2-8c0c83dd38c5.webp) ![Author Andy Weir speaking at the Livermore Library, October 21, 2018](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/14bb8ff3-719d-43f8-ae33-80adb3d7d9d1.webp) *Photos: Marica Massaro · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Dog_Stars_-_Ridley_Scott.jpg); JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andy_Weir_in_Livermore_(45481318411).jpg)* ## Drew Goddard would have had to leave the nice guys behind The larger gamble sat with Goddard. His best-known characters tend to give viewers a handhold. Mark Watney in The Martian is stranded but resourceful. Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary, played by Ryan Gosling, is built around warmth, humor and problem-solving. Wraiths of the Broken Land offers very little of that shelter. The rescuers have a noble aim, but nobody comes through the story untouched. One member of the party is nearly as cruel as the villains, despite fighting on the protagonists’ side. That kind of character asks a writer to hold two truths at once: a person can do something brave and still be terrifying. For Goddard, adapting the novel would have meant writing people who cannot be rescued by charm. That is a serious test, especially for a writer whose appeal often comes from making difficult situations feel human and funny. The book would have demanded a colder room and a different kind of silence. ![Ridley Scott (Hollywood Walk of Fame stars)](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/20bb9f30-50ab-49ab-aea9-ceb79768c5f8.webp) ![Author Andy Weir speaking at the Livermore Library, October 21, 2018](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/14500225-fdf8-441d-bb80-db338d2d3b5b.webp) *Photos: Benoît Prieur · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ridley_Scott_(Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame_stars).JPG); JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andy_Weir_in_Livermore_5_(31607288628).jpg)* ## The western is waiting behind Scott’s next commitments There is no sign that Wraiths of the Broken Land is moving soon. Collider reports that Scott is preparing Treasure Island with Hugh Jackman and trying to get another Alien prequel with Michael Fassbender moving. Goddard is also developing a new Matrix film, though details remain scarce. That is how a movie disappears in plain sight. Nobody has announced a final burial, but other jobs take the chairs around the table. The project remains possible in the broadest sense, yet possibility is a large country with very few roads. For now, Wraiths of the Broken Land belongs to the shelf of films that could have changed the shape of a career. Scott might have made his first true western. Goddard might have written a band of rescuers no one could call good. The sisters would still be waiting in that Mexican brothel, while the men sent to find them gather dust in development. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [Ridley Scott](https://cinepixo.com/people/ridley-scott) - [Andy Weir](https://cinepixo.com/people/andy-weir) - 2026 · [Project Hail Mary](https://cinepixo.com/movies/project-hail-mary-2026) ## Sources - https://collider.com/ridley-scott-project-hail-mary-drew-goddard-unmade-western/ - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/project-hail-mary-writer-andy-weir-s-next-book-may-tackle-a-hot-button-topic/ar-AA2bmpcu - https://www.aol.com/articles/project-hail-mary-writer-andy-170000000.html Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/ridley-scott-and-drew-goddards-brutal-western-stalled-before-filming Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.