Ridley Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard once planned to collaborate on a film adaptation of Wraiths of the Broken Land, a violent Western novel by S. Craig Zahler, shortly after the pair worked together on The Martian. The project, first reported by Variety in 2016, appears to have stalled in development, joining a long list of high-profile "what if" films that were announced but never made.

Zahler, also known for directing Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99, wrote Wraiths of the Broken Land as part of an unofficial Western trilogy noted for its unflinching brutality. The novel, set in the early 1900s at the end of the Old West era, follows two brothers, their father and several outlaw associates as they attempt to rescue two sisters abducted and forced into a Mexican brothel. Scott, who has never made a full Western but has tackled dark material in films such as The Last Duel, and Goddard, whose work including The Martian and Project Hail Mary typically features more sympathetic characters, would each have faced an unusual creative challenge in adapting the grim source material.