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USA Network is taking on the Great Depression. Deadline reports David Mackenzie will direct the network’s new pilot Damnation.

Until now, Mackenzie has primarily worked in film. His latest picture, Hell or High Water, has received significant critical praise.

From Tony Tost, “Damnation is described as an epic saga of the secret history of the 1930s American heartland, chronicling the mythic conflict and bloody struggle between big money and the downtrodden, God and greed, charlatans and prophets. The pilot centers on Seth Davenport, who is masquerading as a small-town Iowa preacher in the hope of starting a full-blown insurrection against the status quo. Focused on his mission, he is unaware that an industrialist tycoon has hired a professional strikebreaker named Creeley Turner to stop the uprising by any means necessary. But unbeknownst to those around them, these two men already share a secret bloody past. The roles have not been cast.”

Tost will executive produce alongside Mackenzie, James Mangold, Guymon Casady, and Daniel Rappaport.

What do you think? Have you seen Hell or High Water? Would you watch Damnation?