Holy smokes! Who knew that the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s philosophical play The Sunset Limited was only a month away from airing on HBO? It seems like it was only a few months ago that I found out that Tommy Lee Jones (who also directs) and Samuel L. Jackson would be playing the roles of “White” and “Black” – but as if often the case, time has slipped, and a glimpse in our archives reveals that the announcement came back in August of 2009, where I said I awaited this with the “eagerness of a young child on Christmas Eve.” And eager I am. I’m perplexed that I hadn’t noticed the released of two teasers and a whole slew of photographs for The Sunset Limited were released in the past few days. Here is how I described the play (or the “novel in dramatic form” as McCarthy labeled it) back in ’09:

The one-act play (which again, is unconventional in that it is completely driven by the dialogue of a single conversation) has but two unnamed men: a black, uneducated ex-convict who now does his best to go through life with the Bible as his guide (“I think for the most part people are good to start with. I think evil is somethin you bring on your own self. Mostly from wantin what you ain’t supposed to have”), and a white, atheist college professor who just before the play begins is saved by the other from attempted suicide by hurling himself in front of a train (“If people saw the world for what it truly is. Saw their lives for what they truly are. Without dreams or illusions. I don’t believe they could offer the first reason why they should not elect to die as soon as possible”). Through their interactions, more about their characters are revealed as we look at two very different men with two very different outlooks on life, as they discuss the existence of a high power, the nature of man, and the moral implications behind White’s attempted suicide. If you and friends have ever had similar conversations (as the lone atheist amongst my close friends, it a topic that comes up often over some beers in our circle), this is a must-read, as Cormac’s dialogue is some of the best of any writers today, with shades of Dostoevsky and Faulkner very apparent in both his writing and the themes his stories tackle.

The Sunset Limited premieres Saturday, February 12 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO.