TV Show review
Review basis: 3 seasons, 24 episodes · through November 23, 2025
April 24, 2022 · 51 min · TV-MA · Ended
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The series follows the life of Billy the Kid from his Irish immigrant family moving west in the 1870s to his years as a cowboy, gunslinger, and key figure in the Lincoln County War. Billy faces family loss, joins a gang, falls in love with a Mexican woman named Dulcinea, and fights against a powerful group of rich men known as the Santa Fe Ring. The story shows Billy identifying with Mexicans and immigrants who face unfair treatment and presents his sense of justice as modern and sensitive to social injustice.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Billy the Kid.
Woke representation / casting
Casting uses a Mexican actress in the prominent love interest role and supporting Hispanic actors for Mexican and Hispano characters that fit the 1870s New Mexico setting. Main roles for Billy and Anglo outlaws use white actors consistent with Irish immigrant and settler backgrounds. No clear audience-visible identity signaling or quota emphasis.
Woke political dialogue
Creator stated that Billy had a curiously modern sense of justice and was sensitive to social injustice. Plot and some dialogue center on unfair treatment of Mexican farmers and immigrants by powerful interests.
Identity-driven story themes
The story highlights Billy's Irish immigrant roots and hardships. It shows him befriending a Mexican boy, romancing Mexican woman Dulcinea, and choosing sides to protect Mexican farmers from attacks. The Santa Fe Ring is framed as rich Americans exploiting others.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Production
The Santa Fe Ring is shown as a corrupt network of wealthy lawyers, businessmen, and politicians who buy sheriffs, courts, and land for their own gain. Billy and his allies fight this system as unjust to ordinary people and Mexicans.
Woke character or canon changes
Billy is given added principles, reluctance to kill, and a stronger sense of justice than in many traditional accounts. The Santa Fe Ring is elevated as a central conspiracy. No identity-driven swaps or reinterpretations of historical figures.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
A 2022 blog post criticized the show for turning Billy into a woke anti-racist figure who accepts a lecture on white privilege. A few viewers noted minor modern morality or lib elements in the justice framing. No major public debate occurred.
Creator track record context
Michael Hirst highlighted immigration, social injustice, and mistreatment of Mexicans in interviews around the series. Other key crew members show no significant activist or identity-driven records.
