Vikings writer-producer Michael Hirst says his latest fact-based drama, Billy the Kid, is resonating with viewers because it addresses many of the same issues and concerns people are dealing with in 2023.
"Billy's family were immigrants from Ireland and, of course, immigration is one of the biggest topics in Europe and America at the moment," Hirst told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"His sense of justice is curiously modern. I didn't make that up," Hirst said. "He was very sensitive to social injustice. He actually had principles. He tried to look after the Mexicans, who he thought were being unjustly treated. He hated some elements of big business -- these so-called 'rings' of rich people, who ran things."
Season 1 served as something of an origin story for Billy.
"What I was trying to do with Season 1 was educate and show the audience who Billy really was. There are lots of myths about Billy the Kid, lots of stories. Some people think he was a pathological killer," Hirst said."Usually, the story starts somewhere in the middle when Billy is already killing people or an outlaw," he added. "i wanted to show more about where he came from, who he was, what kind of a boy he was, who his parents were, how he related to them, what his Irishness meant to him and how difficult it was for immigrants to travel to the west."
When people arrived from other countries, they did not find the jobs, houses and opportunities they believed they were promised, Hirst emphasized.
This experience was an important part of Billy's story and needed to be told if viewers were going to understand and have empathy for the historic figure.
Season 2 explores Billy's integral role in the Lincoln County War, which lasted from 1878 to 1881 in what is now New Mexico.
Participants included rival gunslinger gangs, lawmen, business proprietors and cattle ranchers.
"I've unleashed my inner gunman for Season 2," Hirst said.
"Now we're dealing with a lot of violence. It's edgy and it's darker. We've stepped up as a production. It's brilliantly shot," he added. "We were on a journey with Billy."
Executive producer Donald De Line said Season 2 of show centers on a "fully formed" Billy compared to the "kid" he was in Season 1.
"He made such a giant mark on our world -- culturally and historically," De Line said.
"At 19, he's really become the man that we have read about and learned about and we get to see him fully in action. Season 1 was so much about humanizing him, which Michael did a beautiful job of, in really understanding what made this complex young man, who was capable of so much."
He described the show's depiction of the Lincoln County War as "thrilling, violent and unpredictable."
The circumstances also bring out the best and worst sides of Billy.
"We see Billy emerge as a leader and see Billy go from the outlaw life to a life that, while it didn't live by the letter of the law, he strived to create some kind of justice in a world that he saw as quite corrupt and unjust," De Line said.
"It was very kind of heartbreaking to him. It's what makes the character so fascinating and complicated," he added. "It's so interesting from a character perspective about why these people make the decisions that they make."
