Is Horizon actually a remake of The Searchers?

One familiar shot in the Horizon trailer has fans asking if the Kevin Costner movie is a remake of 1956’s The Searchers — here’s what you need to know.

Horizon: An American Saga marks Kevin Costner’s move from Yellowstone back to the big screen Frontier. And boy, what a move it is. The four-part historical epic has been decades in the making, and resulted in Costner stepping away from one of the most popular TV shows in years.

The Horizon trailer had plenty for fans to talk about, but since its release, questions are being raised about how original the upcoming film series actually is.

In fact, there’s one Western classic that’s stuck in the minds of some fans, and they’re thinking that the two movies are connected. So, is Horizon a remake of The Searchers? Here’s what you need to know.

Is Horizon a remake of The Searchers?

There’s no reason to believe that Horizon: An American Saga is a remake of The Searchers, and Kevin Costner has never said as much.

Costner has been quietly working on Horizon for 30 years now, and he’s never alluded to the films being related or connected to other famous Westerns.

The subject of The Searchers popped up when fans noticed a connection to the 1956 John Wayne film in the Horizon trailer. Specifically, they pointed to one particular shot. The shot in question shows Kevin Costner’s character stepping outside, with only his shadow visible in the light.

This matches one of the most famous scenes from The Searchers, which had John Wayne lit in the same way. You can see the comparison for yourself below:

Warner Bros.

Kevin Costner in Horizon (left) and John Wayne in The Searchers (right)

There are also other elements at play that could leave fans double-guessing the relation between Horizon and The Searchers. For one, they’re both Warner Bros. movies. Could the studio secretly be remaking one of their greatest exports under the guise of a new Western saga?

What’s more, both movies have similarities in the plot. The Civil War and the ongoing conflict between the Western settlers and the Native Americans are both major elements. Plus, Costner’s Horizon is brightly colored and stylized, almost replicating the effect of The Searchers’ Technicolor print.

If Warner Bros. were to do this, who better to remake the greatest American Western (as dubbed by the American Film Institute) than a man who already revitalized the genre back in 1990?

But still, it’s never been confirmed by any official sources that Horizon has anything to do with The Searchers. In fact, the likelihood is that this element would have been widely marketed if that was the case. The similarities in the two shots above are probably nothing more than an example of The Searcher’s cultural influence.

Horizon is Kevin Costner’s ultimate Western passion project. Of course he’d be inspired by the best the genre has to offer. Inspiration, homage, or tribute — call it what you like — that’s probably all it is.