Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers in Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1.

The Big Picture

Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1
features a wagon trail journey across America that is filled with interesting characters and conflict.
Luke Wilson plays Matthew Van Weyden, the reluctant leader of the traveling group, while Ella Hunt’s character, Juliette, faces conflicts with other members.
The actors discuss their changing character dynamics as the journey becomes more treacherous with Hunt and Isabelle Fuhrman teasing that they were looking forward to working together.

If you’ve played The Oregon Trail in your childhood, then this segment of Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 shouldn’t be too foreign to you. Of course, this wagon trail isn’t exactly like a 90s video game for kids, but you can see how we’d make the comparison, what with broken wagons and horses running away, and while so far no one has died of dysentery yet, we’re sure it’s just a matter of time. In the sprawling Western epic by Kevin Costner, Luke Wilson plays Matthew Van Weydan, the reluctant de facto leader of a train of travellers headed west. He is part of the large travelling caravan that’s slowly migrating across the country, facing trials and tribulations along the way.

Also in that group is Ella Hunt’s Juliette, who is travelling with her artist husband, Hugh (Tom Payne). Something of a hot-house flower, Juliette and Hugh easily come off as pretentious to the more rough-and-ready members of their travelling group. Neither are very handy and seem to be the physical embodiment of privilege. This causes Juliette to butt heads not only with Van Weydan but also with people like Owen Kittredge (Will Patton) and his daughters. One of them, Diamond (Isabelle Fuhrman) is the stark opposite to Juliette, but the two women might find common ground as the journey becomes more and more treacherous.

We spoke with Wilson, Hunt, and Fuhrman about the Horizon: An American Saga, especially since the ending of the first movie shows a flash-forward that seems to heavily imply something will happen to poor Hugh that will leave Juliette unprotected. Hunt spoke about filming some delicate scenes and complimented Costner on his approach to telling the character’s story. Hunt and Fuhrman also discussed the changing relationship that Diamond and Juliette will have with each other as the story progresses. Meanwhile, Wilson teases some of what is to come in the future movies, as the caravan faces not only the scarce desert, which means they’ll need to conserve resources but also more dangerous territory. Watch the video interview with Wilson, Hunt, and Fuhrman above, or read the full transcript of the interview below.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.Release Date June 28, 2024 Main Genre Western Writers Jon Baird

What Will Happen to Juliette on the Trail? And Is Hugh in Danger?
COLLIDER: I think it’s pretty clear from the end of the film and looking forward to the other three movies that there’s trouble ahead for Juliette and Hugh. Ella, can you speak about the journey that Juliette will have to go on now when it looks like she’s going to lose her husband or something’s going to happen to her husband? What’s her journey gonna be like?

ELLA HUNT: I was really attracted to playing this woman who, on the face of it, is difficult. She’s a challenge to love. She is forthright, she is very much a product of her upbringing and very at odds with her environment, or the environment she finds herself in on the Oregon Trail. She has a husband who’s an artist, and he’s delicate, and she wants to protect him at all costs against all of the ways of the time. She just wants to protect him, and perhaps as the story goes on, she’s not able to. We see this woman be tested in ways that we imagine that no one ever could be or should be. But the truth of Juliette’s story is that women have been experiencing this kind of thing since time began and continue to. I was so touched by how delicately Kevin wanted to deal with Juliette’s character and how much tenderness and care he had for me throughout the shoot. Even before I got the character, we sat down to talk about the more challenging elements of Juliette’s arc, and I felt in very safe hands. I felt excited to tell that story and to take that leap with him.

Related Kevin Costner Is Already Filming ‘Horizon’ Chapter 3 Costner hopes to release a total of four films in ‘The American Saga.’

What Is Ahead for Luke Wilson’s Van Weyden as the Wagons Move West?
Image via Warner Bros.

Luke, your character, Van Weyden, has to deal with a lot on this journey. He has to deal with not only Juliette and her husband, but also being the de facto leader of this journey across the country. What do you think is the most challenging aspect for him in managing all of these people? Can you tease anything about his path ahead?

LUKE WILSON: One interesting thing to me about Van Weyden being the leader of the wagon train is that it’s not a job that he campaigned for — he was kind of elected by these other pioneers to be the person in charge. I really liked that idea of kind of a reluctant leader. It seems like the kind of thing that could happen to a battalion in war or something like that, where you get plucked out of one town, and then all of a sudden, you’re leading these people. He’s leading families, so there’s so much on the line. He’s in charge of all this livestock and children and men and women, and that seemed really interesting.

In terms of his story going forward, he’s got his own family to take care of. But I think the linchpin for me was, he says, “[I’m] just trying to get as many of us as I can as far as I can.” That’s really all he’s trying to do, and you will lose people along the way. They’re interesting things where, in order to keep moving through these kinds of more dangerous territories, he chooses to leave cattle and livestock behind as a gift to the Native Americans to show respect, and it’s also like paying a toll for safe passage. Those are ideas that I had never read or seen in a Western before, so I find them very intriguing and exciting.

Ella Hunt & Isabelle Fuhrman Are Excited for Their Relationship in Future Movies

I think another really exciting aspect of this film, at least that was introduced but maybe not explored as much, is Isabelle with your character Diamond. I feel like we see this, not butting of heads but sort of opposition between her and Juliette as two different origins, I guess. What kind of bond will this character form with Juliette, if at all? Or is this going to be more of a rivalry?

ISABELLE FUHRMAN: With Diamond, we get to grow with her throughout the saga. This is her teenagehood, and Juliette is kind of the first really feminine woman that she’s come face-to-face with in this world. She’s definitely not suited to her surroundings in the same way that Diamond and her family have been brought up by her dad to be rough and ready for anything on this journey. She really starts to develop, I would say, a fascination that turns into a very deep love for this woman and an understanding of what she’s going through at this time, and also being unsure as to what she can do, but also learning from it. Diamond is such a sponge. She’s incredibly smart, and she absorbs everything around her. I feel like what you start to see in movie one, and what we really get to explore in movie two, is how these two women shape each other and help each other grow into better-suited women to survive this journey.

HUNT: It really is a mutual exchange between them. Even though Juliette is the elder, she learns so much from Diamond.

FURHMAN: And Diamond learns so much from Juliette. They have such a beautiful relationship. Not to spoil anything, but we were so excited to have our scenes together in the second film and to work together on them because I’ve been a big fan of Ella for a very long time. We filmed a lot in chronological order…

HUNT: Yes! So we just were waiting, champing at the bit.

FURHMAN: We were waiting, waiting, waiting to finally have these explosive, beautiful moments together. It really was just a dream to work with you. Truly.

Horizon: An American Saga is in theaters now.

Buy Tickets