Before The Queen’s Gambit became one of Netflix’s biggest shows in 2020, Scott Frank had already made a very different kind of series for the streamer. Godless, released in 2017, is a seven-episode Western that has everything you’d expect from the genre, including outlaws, gunslingers, revenge, and a final showdown.
Set in 1884 New Mexico, Godless follows Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), an outlaw who turns against his former mentor Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and ends up hiding in La Belle, a town where almost every man has been killed in a mining accident. Although the series was well received when it debuted, earning an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it still disappeared into obscurity.
- Release Date
-
2017 – 2017-00-00
- Network
-
Netflix
- Directors
-
Scott Frank
-
Sam Waterston
Marshall John Cook
-
-
Michelle Dockery
Alice Fletcher
-
Leaving Frank means leaving his old life behind
Roy’s relationship with Frank is more complicated than a typical hero-versus-villain setup. Although Frank is hunting Roy, he was also the person who raised him after he was orphaned. He sees his gang as a family, and for years Roy was part of that family. That makes Roy’s decision to leave much harder than simply deciding that Frank has become too violent.
But Frank’s version of family is built around strict loyalty. He gives people a place in the world, but there is a cost to belonging to him. Roy eventually reaches a point where he can no longer accept what Frank does, even though walking away means giving up the closest thing he has had to a home. The series spends time showing how that relationship developed.
This is why Frank remains such a powerful presence in his life even when Roy isn’t with him. Roy isn’t just trying to escape from Frank in a physical sense; he’s actually trying to separate himself from an identity that was given to him when he was too young to choose it. And Frank’s biggest mistake is believing that because he gave Roy a family, he has to remain part of it.
Godless turns the Western’s usual power structure upside down
La Belle has no men left to save it
Godless has all the familiar pieces of a Western. But Frank removes one of the genre’s most familiar features before the story really gets going. The men who are “supposed” to run the town are practically non-existent, leaving the women to keep the community alive. And they do a pretty good job of it too. Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery) is already running her ranch when Roy arrives.
Mary Agnes McNue (Merritt Wever), the widow of the town’s former mayor, has become one of La Belle’s most capable figures. Their lives aren’t built around finding new men to replace the ones they’ve lost, either. They have simply adapted to what happened. That makes Roy’s arrival more interesting since he’s the character a Western would normally put at the center of the story.
But he doesn’t suddenly take charge. Because Roy is injured, he depends on Alice for food and shelter. She eventually puts him to work breaking horses and even teaches him to read. By the time Frank Griffin comes looking for him, the women of La Belle prepare to fight his gang themselves. While the final shootout is still a Western showdown, Roy isn’t framed as the traditional male savior.
Godless was too different for Western fans
Female-led stories often get judged unfairly
If you consider the premise, the show’s female-first approach may have contributed to why Godless never became as popular as other modern Westerns. Shows like Yellowstone found a huge audience by focusing on the things people traditionally associate with the genre. The only difference is that powerful men have always been the story’s focal point.
Even when Yellowstone put complicated women at the center of its subplots, the traditional Western power structure remained intact. Godless goes in the opposite direction. No wealthy family controls La Belle, and no patriarch decides everyone else’s future. While this gives the series a unique edge, it may also have made it harder to market.
Female-led projects often face this strange problem, and Marvel Studios experienced it several times. Captain Marvel was hit with backlash and negative reviews before it had even opened, with some of the criticism aimed directly at Brie Larson and the idea of a woman leading an MCU movie. The Marvels faced a similar reaction, although its poor box office had lots of other explanations.
If you loved The Queen’s Gambit, watch Godless next
Scott Frank’s two outsiders aren’t so different
The biggest reason to watch Godless after The Queen’s Gambit is because Scott Frank created both of them. While the shows couldn’t be more different, they share an interest in characters who are both outsiders plagued by difficult childhoods. Like Roy, who is dealing with the drama of his surrogate family, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) loses her mother and grows up in an orphanage.
Beth eventually discovers chess through the orphanage’s custodian, while Roy learns to survive as an outlaw under Frank. While both characters essentially find someone who gives their lives structure, neither has an easy time understanding where they belong outside of it. That idea is challenged as each series progresses.
Alice gives Roy a chance to experience a life that has nothing to do with Frank, while Beth’s relationships eventually give her the support system she didn’t have as a child. But their stories aren’t just about escaping difficult circumstances. Both characters learn to accept that they don’t have to remain the person those circumstances created.
