Steven Spielberg's Next Film, a Western, Eyes 2027 Shoot, Janusz Kamiński Confirms

Steven Spielberg's first-ever western now has a rough start date, and his longtime cinematographer is already scouting it in his head.

In a new THR profile, timed to Janusz Kamiński receiving the Visionary Cinematographer Award at Camerimage, the two-time Oscar winner confirms his next job is Spielberg's untitled western, which the director hopes to shoot next year.

Next up is another collaboration with Spielberg, on an untitled Western, the director’s first, which Spielberg hopes to shoot next year. Kamiński is already imagining the landscape, drawing, as always, from the world he grew up in.

And, as he has for more than three decades, Kamiński is pulling from the Poland he grew up in:

We used to go to this region in the Sudeten Mountains, where it was just beautiful, rolling hills, looked like parts of Montana. The lay of the land, the snow on the ground, the fog.

Back in March at SXSW, Spielberg told The Big Picture that he had a western in development that “kicks ass,” promising horses and no tropes or stereotypes. The way Kamiński talks about this one, it sounds like a straight frontier picture.

The genre has been a defining influence on Spielberg—you can see it all over “The Fabelmans”—but it’s strange that he’s never really made one. The closest he’s come is probably 1989’s “The Last Crusade,” which definitely had elements of the western but didn’t fully embrace the genre.

Spielberg released “Disclosure Day” this year, which drew decent reviews, but only made $239M worldwide against a $300M break-even, making it Spielberg's third straight film to lose money after “West Side Story” and “The Fabelmans.” A western isn't exactly the safest commercial bet either. But Spielberg, who turns 80 next month, said last year he has “no plans ever to retire.”

A 2027 shoot would mean a 2028 release at the earliest. Spielberg and Kamiński, finally out in the snow and fog of the American West? Sign me up.

Side Note: While we’re on the topic of Spielberg, in September 2025, I polled around 100 critics and asked them to name his best movies. It was a fascinating batch of results, with, inevitably, “Jaws” taking the top spot.