A Hunger Games Star's Western Series Is One Of The Genre's Most Underrated Offerings

Before Tom Blyth played a young Coriolanus Snow in 2023's "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes," he portrayed a legendary Old West outlaw. "Billy the Kid" saw the British actor play the titular legend in a series that ran for a surprisingly long time given nobody has ever heard of it. But its lack of recognition only means that this overlooked MGM+ series is just waiting to be discovered, and while it didn't receive the best reviews, Western fans shouldn't be disappointed. 

When he was cast in "Billy the Kid," Blyth was yet to make his "Hunger Games" appearance. The Juilliard-grad started his career all the way back in 2010 with supporting roles in the films "Robin Hood" and "Pelican Blood," after which he landed his first lead role in 2018's "Scott and Sid." More lead roles followed, and in 2021 Deadline reported that Blyth had been cast in "Billy the Kid."

The Western drama follows the titular gunfighter from his arrival in 1871 New York with his Irish immigrant parents, all the way up to his involvement in the legendary Lincoln County War and its aftermath. Episode 1 sees a 12-year-old Billy McCarty (played by Jonah Collier) arriving in New York only to lose his father, forcing him to very quickly grow up. After that the series tells a sweeping tale of McCarty's life which may not have received the best reviews, but is worthy of recognition beyond becoming a lost MGM+ series. 

Legendary Old West outlaw and gunfighter Billy the Kid, whose real name was Henry McCarty and who often used the alias William H. Bonney, has been immortalized on-screen many times. Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," Gore Vidal's TV movie "Billy the Kid," and Howard Hughes' "The Outlaw" are some examples. Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke even starred in the now forgotten Western "The Kid," directed by "Daredevil" star Vincent D'Onofrio. The Tom Blyth-led TV series, however, is a more in-depth exploration of the man's life overseen by creator Michael Hirst, who's best known for creating "Vikings" and "The Tudors." 

The show sees Blyth play somewhat of a reluctant outlaw — a man who can gunsling with the best of them but who doesn't seem to revel in killing. In that sense, the British actor plays the part with a certain restraint which not only gives his version of the Old West legend a certain quietly simmering intensity, it works well within the context of the show by making him a more sympathetic figure — even if it doesn't quite capture the real-life outlaw's cold-blooded nature.

"Billy the Kid" begins by focusing on its subject's experiences as the son of Irish immigrants, before depicting his transformation into an outlaw. Season 2 delivered the show's take on the famous Lincoln County War, in which Billy took the side of the Tunstall-McSween-Chisum faction against the Murphy-Dolan monopoly. By the end of Season 2, Blyth's outlaw has become a notorious fugitive, and spends Season 3 trying to evade Pat Garrett (Alex Roe). Those who know how the real-life story ends will likely have guessed that this third season is also the show's last.

A year after "Billy the Kid" debuted, Tom Blyth appeared in the "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes," playing a younger version of Donald Sutherland's despotic president Coriolanus Snow. He earned praise from critics for his portrayal, with David Fear of Rolling Stone commending Blyth for being "savvy enough to not lean into the mustache-twirling or the telegraphing of horrors to come." It makes sense the actor would excel in the role. "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" was a film that made you root for the bad guy, and Blyth had been doing a version of that same thing on "Billy the Kid."

When "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" bowed, "Billy the Kid" had been running on Epix since April 2022, with its second season premiering on MGM+ (the rebranded Epix) in October 2023. The show's third and final season premiered on September 28, 2025, by which time Blyth's career was taking off. He's since starred in one of the best Netflix movies of 2026, "People We Meet on Vacation."

Unfortunately, the reviews for "Billy the Kid" Season 1 weren't all that great. The show managed a 50% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight reviews. Brad Newsome of the Sydney Morning Herald writing, "Not a patch on 'Deadwood,'" didn't really do much for the series' reputation. Neither did the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's Rob Owen, who described "Billy the Kid" as "a perfunctory slog" that makes for a "predictable and lackadaisical journey." Subsequent seasons weren't widely reviewed, but the show arguably got better as it went along and is a decent watch for Western fans. Those interested can check out "Billy the Kid" with a seven-day free trial of MGM+ on Prime Video.