‘Brokeback Mountain’ is getting a stage adaptation & its two new lead stars have queer fans cheering

Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar’s romance will take center stage once again.

A theater adaptation of Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story Brokeback Mountain, which centers on two Wyoming cowboys who start a decades-long intimate relationship while herding sheep in 1963, is heading to London’s West End, reported Variety.

The stage version comes nearly two decades after Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal starred as the rugged lovers Ennis and Jack, respectively, in Ang Lee’s 2005 Oscar-winning film adaptation. While both Ledger and Gyllenhaal were nominated, the film won Academy Awards for director, score and adapted screenplay.

This time around, Lucas Hedges, who received a Golden Globe nomination for the gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, and Mike Faist, West Side Story‘s BAFTA-nominated Riff, star as Ennis and Jack.

The new production is being billed as a play with music, but it is not a traditional musical with choreographed numbers. Written by Ashley Robinson and with “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” director Jonathan Butterell at the helm, it will feature songs by Dan Gillespie Sells performed by singer-songwriter Eddi Reader.

Brokeback Mountain will debut at May 10th at Londons’ Sohoplace Theatre and have a limited 12-week run before its final performance on August 12th.

News of the live stage update of the queer classic has fans riled up, especially the rabid members of Team Hedges and Team Faist.

LUCAS IS BACK— void (@wilIspector) March 20, 2023

MIKE FAIST NATION RISE!!!!! pic.twitter.com/v0wmcJJ3HH— bec (@abfstans) March 20, 2023

lucas hedges how i’ve missed u— yara. (@pobrecitayarita) March 20, 2023

MIKE FAIST NATION WE WON pic.twitter.com/F6O1t2as5v— ‘cami (@deansingletear) March 20, 2023

lucas hedges we’ve missed you https://t.co/6h1j2dDSzU pic.twitter.com/DhncNFCdOE— david (@Ioversdiscourse) March 20, 2023

Oh I hope they bring it to Broadway— Lloyd (@itslloydnotlyod) March 20, 2023

Can’t believe another classic has gone woke, now they’re remaking Brokeback Mountain with male lovers?— John Walker and Ethan Landry stan (@AverageFilmAPR) March 20, 2023

We need Brenda to film the entire thing pic.twitter.com/0P4fkZGhCD— kayo (@thesuperkayow) March 20, 2023

oh so god is real. and he loves us!!!!— silly rabbit (@tomhardyhater) March 20, 2023

is this confirmed because if it is I’m off to london — Dana Gail (@ItsDanaAndrews) March 20, 2023

Fans not able to make it across the pond will stay have other new queer western content to feast on later this year.

In May, Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The short film, which has been described as Brokeback-esque, finds daddy of the moment Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke playing an outlaw and a sheriff who reunite after 25 years apart. 

Adding to the film’s hunk mix is Elite hottie Manu Ríos in a supporting role.

But if you’re wanting a re-watch of Gyllenhaal not knowing how to quit Ledger than Netflix has you covered. The original Brokeback Mountain is currently available to stream on the platform, or you can rent it on Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Google Play, and DirecTV, among others.

As you contemplate traveling to London’s West End, let all your sheepherding forbidden love fantasies come back by checking out the film’s 2005 trailer below: