A Different ‘Dove’ Takes Flight at CBS : Television: Follow-up to the hit miniseries based on Larry McMurtry’s novel features a nearly all-new cast and bears ‘no relation’ to author’s own sequel.

In the nearly two years since CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky told a press conference that the network had signed the original cast of the smash Western miniseries “Lonesome Dove” to star in a sequel for 1992, word about the project has been quieter than a tumbleweed blowing through a ghost town.

Finally, however, cameras are scheduled to roll in June, most likely in Montana, on “Return to Lonesome Dove,” to air on CBS in November.

But not with the original cast.

What’s more, the TV sequel will not be based on anything written by Larry McMurtry, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was the source of the original 1989 miniseries--even though Simon and Schuster will publish McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove” sequel, “Streets of Laredo,” in August.

In fact, the two sequels tell completely different stories set almost 20 years apart. And McMurtry thinks CBS may be setting itself up for criticism from disappointed fans, once they discover what he says are inconsistencies in the two stories.

“The stories have absolutely no relation to one another. None,” McMurtry said. “I have to emphasize that. I wrote one, John Wilder the other. And mine will come out first. So if America loves the book, and then sees the discrepancies between the two stories, too bad. The onus is on them, not me.”

Veteran TV writer Wilder’s “Return to Lonesome Dove” picks up where the original miniseries left off. After bringing the cattle safely from the Rio Grande to Montana, the retired Texas Rangers become embroiled in a range war over wild mustangs.

McMurtry’s novel “Streets of Laredo,” on the other hand, takes place nearly two decades later, in Mexico. Capt. Woodrow Call (the character played on TV by Tommy Lee Jones), now an aging bounty hunter, is hired by a railroad baron to capture a crafty Mexican boy who robs trains.

At this point, the only original cast member who appears to be doing “Return to Lonesome Dove” is Rick Schroder.

Last year, Anjelica Huston was considering coming back if the script was strong enough. Now, her spokeswoman said, Huston simply doesn’t want to do another sequel after filming “Addams Family Values.” Diane Lane, meanwhile, is pregnant and will not return.

New cast members include Jon Voight, to replace Jones, and Louis Gossett Jr. in a new role, with a promise of more high-profile cast members still to be announced. Robert Duvall’s character, in case anyone forgot, died in the first miniseries.

Robert Halmi Sr., who is producing CBS’ sequel, denies reports in the industry that problems getting a satisfactory script delayed the start of production and soured original cast members on returning. “A seven-hour epic just takes a long, long time to write,” he said. “Whenever something is announced, and it takes a while to happen, people start thinking this and that. It just takes time to do something well.”

But at least one original cast member, Jones, apparently declined to do the second miniseries because of the script.

“Tommy was not in any way brought in and consulted and made a part of developing this thing, which Sagansky felt he was,” said Michael Block, Jones’ agent at ICM. “But he really wasn’t. When he read the completed script, it was so different to him in spirit than what (‘Lonesome Dove’ screenwriter) Bill Wittliff had so aptly adapted from McMurtry, that he said, ‘Not for me, guys.’ ”

Halmi said that McMurtry was closely involved in the development of the sequel to ensure there were no story conflicts with his forthcoming novel. When Halmi’s RHI Entertainment purchased the TV rights for “Lonesome Dove,” the deal included rights to use McMurtry’s characters for a sequel.

Halmi also said that RHI will turn “Streets of Laredo” into a third miniseries. And after that, RHI plans to make a “Lonesome Dove” prequel, a TV series based on the young lives of the Texas Rangers before they were introduced in “Lonesome Dove.”

But McMurtry and his literary agent, Irving Lazar, tell a different story.

First off, McMurtry said that while he was a consultant to “Return to Lonesome Dove,” his input consisted primarily of “craftsman-like” advice. As a result, there are what McMurtry perceives to be possible inconsistencies between the two sequels, including the death of a major character and the marriage of another in his novel that are not reflected in the script for the miniseries.

Furthermore, McMurtry and Lazar insist that Halmi has not purchased TV rights to “Streets of Laredo.” The author is seeking $500,000 for those rights, and Halmi’s highest offer came in at $300,000, Lazar said.

“When we sold the book originally, we sold it giving them a right to the sequel,” Lazar said. “At that particular time, before it won a Pulitzer Prize, we were not in a very good bargaining position, because they weren’t making very many Westerns at all.” The miniseries was a ratings smash and subsequently was repeated twice by CBS, released successfully on videocassette and shown on cable’s TBS.

Halmi responded: “As per our contract, Larry McMurtry cannot sell the motion picture and television rights to the sequel to ‘Lonesome Dove’ to anyone else but RHI Entertainment for seven years. ‘We know exactly what McMurtry wants for the sequel and we are the only ones who can negotiate. Negotiations are now in progress and we are confident that we will acquire the rights.”

What does McMurtry think of the “Return to Lonesome Dove” script?

“That’s really hard to judge,” he said. “They’re his (Wilder’s) characters now, not my characters. I am pretty detached about it. I read the first script and told them what I thought was wrong with it, which was considerable. Mainly the direction of the ending, which I thought was considerably happier than it should have been.”

McMurtry said that many of his suggestions were followed, including a revised ending.

And what of Sagansky’s announcement two years ago that the entire cast had agreed to return? Sagansky made the statement during an annual meeting of TV journalists to pump up interest in CBS’ development schedule.

“I thought (the announcement) was ridiculous, frankly, because he said a number of things that were not true,” McMurtry said. “Like I was enthusiastic about the project, which I had not even been contacted about. I consider that Mr.Sagansky’s hyperbole. I was going to write him a letter about it, but I decided to let it go. It was just silly.”

The network did receive a letter from McMurtry, but it was a letter approving of the “Return to Lonesome Dove” script, a CBS spokeswoman said. She also said that programming announcements such as the one made by Sagansky in 1991 usually include target dates but that delays routinely occur in the long process of development. In fact, a one-hour anthology series from filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola that was announced with the “Lonesome Dove” miniseries is also still in development.

“We’re all aware of how very special ‘Lonesome Dove’ is,” the network spokeswoman said. “You want to do it right. And to rush ahead and do it without the right script or without the right cast, that just doesn’t make any sense.”