When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire. Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly “no-man’s-land” known as…The Thicket. The Thicket is a Gothic Western adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s novel of the same name.
The Thicket centers around an orphan named Jack and his quest to save his sister Lula from the gunslinger Cut Throat Bill who kills their grandfather as they travel to their aunt’s house in Montana. Jack convinces Jones and Eustace a pair of travelers (played by Dinklage and Gbenga Akinnagbe) to help him rescue Lula by dangling the $10,000 bounty for Bill in front of them. However, it’s winter and Billy is crazy dangerous. If Lula is still alive and they rescue her, she’s not going to be the same girl that Jack knows.
Peter Dinklage had been attached to the project for many years, being linked with the project in 2014 along with producer Gianni Nunnari, Shannon Gaulding and Andre Lemmers. The film has been described as a “passion project” for him. The film began pre-production in February 2020 with Dinklage, Noomi Rapace and Charlie Plummer joining the cast, but was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2023, Juliette Lewis joined the cast to replace Rapace. Metallica frontman James Hetfield was confirmed as amongst the cast. The Exchange, Orogen Entertainment, Hollywood Gang, and Milu Entertainment executive produced the film.