SerpApi.Org
John Wayne famously passed on several major roles throughout his career, but one decision may have changed the course of Western television history.
According to ScreenRant, Wayne turned down a starring role in an unproduced film called The Streets of Laredo, a project written by acclaimed author Larry McMurtry and set to be directed by a young Peter Bogdanovich. The movie never got off the ground, but its story didn't end there.
Years later, McMurtry reworked the abandoned screenplay into Lonesome Dove, the landmark Western miniseries that many critics now consider one of the greatest ever made.
Why John Wayne Turned Down 'The Streets of Laredo'
At the time, The Streets of Laredo had all the ingredients of a major Hollywood production. McMurtry had written the script, Bogdanovich was attached to direct, and The Duke was the first choice to star. But after reading the screenplay, the Hollywood icon ultimately decided to pass.
According to ScreenRant, Wayne believed the film was being positioned as the "final" Western, which was essentially a symbolic end to the genre that had defined his career.
Rather than participate in what he saw as Westerns' farewell, Wayne reportedly said he still had more to contribute and wanted no part in ending the genre. Without Wayne attached, the film never moved forward.
The Story Was Given New Life
Although The Streets of Laredo was shelved, McMurtry didn't abandon the idea. Roughly two decades later, he reworked the concept into Lonesome Dove, first publishing it as his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1985 novel before it was adapted into the acclaimed 1989 CBS miniseries.
Starring Robert Duvall as Gus McCrae and Tommy Lee Jones as Woodrow F. Call, Lonesome Dove follows two aging Texas Rangers who embark on an epic cattle drive to Montana, encountering outlaws, hardship and the changing American West along the way.
One of the Greatest Western Miniseries Ever Made
More than three decades later, Lonesome Dove remains one of the most celebrated Westerns ever produced for television. TVLine recently ranked it among the greatest Western TV shows of all time, calling the 1989 event miniseries a groundbreaking production that revitalized the genre.
The publication praised the chemistry between Duvall and Jones, noting that the series became a television phenomenon during its original broadcast and spawned multiple follow-up projects, though none matched the acclaim of the original.
Describing it as "a requiem for the Wild West," TVLine also called Lonesome Dove essential viewing for Western fans.
Ironically, Wayne turned down The Streets of Laredo because he didn't want to help bring the Western genre to an end. Instead, the abandoned project eventually evolved into one of the genre's defining achievements, helping introduce a new generation of viewers to the American West.
