The world will remember the Alamo, but it has completely forgotten “Texas Rising.”
In 2015, History bet on the team behind its highly acclaimed Western “Hatfields & McCoys” to craft a five-part saga dramatizing the Texas Revolution. The series picked up after the fall of the Alamo and followed General Sam Houston (Bill Paxton, who also starred in “Hatfields & McCoys”) on his quest to secure Texan independence and defend the fledgling republic against Mexican and Native American forces. The series had the sweeping historical scope of TV’s most successful Westerns, but “Texas Rising” was not destined to join their ranks. Reviewers panned the show, calling out its languid pacing, poorly written dialogue, and overreliance on reductive stereotypes. The series holds a 19% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite its poor reception, “Texas Rising” boasted an all-star cast. Paxton was joined by Brendan Fraser, Chad Michael Murray, Crispin Glover, Thomas Jane, Ray Liotta, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and more. The series also featured two “Lost” alums, Jeff Fahey and Jeremy Davies, as well as Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whose commitment to “Texas Rising” forced him to abandon a role on “Shameless.”
Bill Paxton shared a surprising connection with his Texas Rising character
“Texas Rising” received poor reviews, but it did offer Bill Paxton the chance to play a dream role. In a 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Texas-born actor said he was initially considered for Deaf Smith, another soldier in the war, but was more drawn to General Sam Houston, whom he “relate[d] to … much more, as a statesman and as a leader.” (The role of Deaf Smith eventually went to Jeffrey Dean Morgan.)
There was more to Paxton’s desire to play Houston than mere historical respect. “I said, ‘On top of that, guys, I know his mother’s maiden name was Paxton, and I know that I’m related to him somehow,'” the actor recalled of his pitch to the show’s director and producer. “I didn’t find out [until later], but we’re actually second cousins four times removed.”
Even before discovering the precise family connection, Paxton felt destined for the part. “I turned to [director Roland Joffé] and I said, ‘I believe I was born to play Sam Houston.’ And he said, ‘I believe you were too.'” The role ended up being one of Paxton’s last before his death in 2017.
