Blood Meridian is one of the most iconic pieces of American literature ever written, but has somehow avoided a movie adaptation ever since it was published in 1985. Most famous novels receive film adaptations at some point or another, with everything from Moby Dick to The Great Gatsby getting a movie version at some point in Hollywood’s history.

However, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is a book that has defied adaptation time and time again, going now four decades without ever seeing its story taken to the big screen. The horror Western takes place in the Wild American West, with the nameless teenage protagonist, simply referred to as “the kid”, falling in with a violent band of scalp hunters.

The narrative is driven by the presence of the haunting Judge Holden, a mᴀssive, intelligent, yet sadistic hairless man who has committed every atrocity and appalling crime in human history possible. As the kid becomes disillusioned with his violent lifestyle and flees for a better life, The Judge’s looming presence becomes all the more terrifying.

Loosely based on a real account of the Wild West, Samuel Chamberlain’s My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue, McCarthy uses Judge Holden to paint a haunting portrait of humanity. Blood Meridian is infamous for its nerve-wracking portrayal of humanity’s worst instincts.

Blood Meridian Is One Of The Great American Novels

A Chilling Western Tale On The Religion Of Violence

Despite never breaking above a certain degree of fame thanks to its inability to inspire a proper movie adaptation, critical praise for Blood Meridian is far from faint. The book is recognized as one of the most important pieces of American literature ever created, and is sometimes even referred to as the “Great American Novel”, a тιтle usually descriptive of an entire genre.

Cormac McCarthy’s unique prose makes Blood Meridian a stunning read, devoid of unnecessary punctuation, like apostrophes in contractions or even quotation marks. Archaic, obscure, or even foreign language often makes its way into the action, which contributes to the mythical, almost biblical status the story has managed to reach in hushed whispers among those in the know.

Why Blood Meridian Never Got A Feature Film Adaptation

The Book’s Violence Is A Clear Barrier To Entry

Considering how prolific Blood Meridian is, it seems quite shocking that no film adaptation has ever even attempted to represent it in another medium. But niether animation nor live-action traditional filmmaking have been able to come up with a take on Blood Meridian, for a myriad of likely reasons.

First and foremost, Blood Meridian is an incredibly bleak tale. The book features nauseating descriptions of violence, torture, and Sєxual ᴀssault perpetrated by both Judge Holden and the rest of the bloodthirsty members of Glanton’s gang of scalpers. Any faithful adaptation of Blood Meridian would instantly become one of the most violent movies ever.

It’s not just that the stomach-churning atrocities committed in Blood Meridian make it a difficult task to tackle in terms of adaptation, but its incredibly depressing downer ending that doesn’t even pay it off with any kind of easy-to-grasp moral. Not only would such a film be R-rated for its content, but the nihilistic worldview the book presents is far from an attractive investment.

Finally, much of Blood Meridian‘s value comes from the strength of McCarthy’s unique voice, something any film would have trouble capturing. As the prose begins to slip into more vague and esoteric territory, the novel slowly becomes less of a concrete narrative and more of a haunting poem.

Every Attempt At Making A Blood Meridian Movie

The Movie Industry Is Clearly Scared Of McCarthy’s Vision

Nevertheless, there are elements of Blood Meridian that make it attractive to filmmakers. Judge Holden has the potential to create one of the most iconic cinematic villains of all time, and the Western is a tried-and-true film genre that has seen its fair share of success in the box office and pop culture.

Several screenwriters have taken a crack at adapting Blood Meridian for screen. The first to do so was screenwriter Steve Tesich, known best for the drama-comedy Breaking Away. Tesich’s screenplay was finalized in 1995 before actor Tommy Lee Jones acquired the rights, re-writing it to his own liking and toying with the idea of directing and starring in it.

However, Jones was unable to find a producer thanks to the script’s unrelenting translation of McCarthy’s violent book. In 2004, famed director Ridley Scott of Alien and Bladerunner fame took a crack at a Blood Meridian script, only for the project to be abandoned once again due to the difficulty of marrying the film’s brutality with common film standards.

In 2011, another famed actor, James Franco, became interested in a movie adaptation of Blood Meridian. Working with Scott Rudin, the producer consulted by Ridley Scott, Franco allegedly managed to film 25 minutes of test footage, starring his brother Dave Franco, Scott Glenn, Mark Pellegrino, and Luke Perry (via Vice).

Will Blood Meridian Ever Get A Movie?

Things Aren’t Looking Great For The Latest Attempt At Bringing The Book To Life

Maddeningly, Scott Rubin eventually refused to continue entertaining the idea of producing a Blood Meridian film for unknown reasons. As of now, the book’s best chance at being adapted rests in the hands of its most recent cinematic suitor, New Regency Productions.

New Regency’s vision of Blood Meridian includes John Hillcoat as its director. Hillcoat is a fitting choice considering that he successfully directed an adaptation of another incredibly bleak Cormac McCarthy novel, The Road. McCarthy himself was set to serve as executive producer of the film in 2023, now guaranteed a posthumous credit as such after his death that same year (via ᴅᴇᴀᴅline).

Screenwriter John Logan, known for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, has also been signed on to help adapt the story. However, no news of New Regency’s version of Blood Meridian has come out since Hillcoat revealed that McCarthy denied the possibility of the story turning into a TV miniseries in a 2024 interview (via The Film Stage).

The lack of updates since this interview doesn’t paint a great picture of the possibility of even the latest attempt at adapting Blood Meridian ever coming out. But there’s no denying that if done well, the story has the potential to become one of the most iconic movies ever made, let alone one of the best Westerns.

Sources: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Vice, The Film Stage