8.088 minSeason 1 • Episode 3
LatestBad Frank's raids force the besieged Hatfields deeper into the mountains; the impulsive Johnse sets his sights on another McCoy woman; the ruthless Nancy McCoy spies on the Hatfields; and the feud leads to a shattering New Year's Day battle.
It’s the true American story of a legendary family feud—one that spanned decades and nearly launched a war between Kentucky and West Virginia. The Hatfield-McCoy saga begins with Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy.. Close friends and comrades until near the end of the Civil War, they return to their neighboring homes—Hatfield in West Virginia, McCoy just across the Tug River border in Kentucky—to increasing tensions, misunderstandings and resentments that soon explode into all-out warfare between their families. As hostilities grow, friends, neighbors and outside forces join the fight, bringing the two states to the brink of another civil war.
Acting
Costner's Devil Anse is career-best simmering rage.
Production
Appalachia shot like a graveyard—beautiful and brutal.
Writing
Every escalation feels inevitable, every death wasteful.
Creator
Ted Mann
Kevin Costner
'Devil' Anse Hatfield
Bill Paxton
Randall McCoy
Matt Barr
Johnse Hatfield
Tom Berenger
Jim Vance
Powers Boothe
Judge Valentine 'Wall' Hatfield
Andrew Howard
'Bad' Frank Phillips
Jena Malone
Nancy McCoy
Sarah Parish
Levicy Hatfield
Lindsay Pulsipher
Roseanna McCoy
Ronan Vibert
Perry Cline
Joe Absolom
Selkirk McCoy
Noel Fisher
Ellison 'Cotton Top' Mounts
Boyd Holbrook
William 'Cap' Hatfield
Tom McKay
Jim McCoy
Sam Reid
Tolbert McCoy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Costner poured $20 million of his own money into this after studios passed, then won an Emmy for playing the man who started a war over a pig. (It was never really about the pig.)
The real feud killed over a dozen and took 13 years to resolve; this miniseries helped revive the 'event miniseries' format for prestige TV, paving the way for True Detective and Fargo's anthology seasons.
US
