Ian McShane has declared the notion of a Deadwood movie, well, dead.

"First of all, I think the Deadwood movies were a myth to begin with and I don't think that myth is about to be revisited," said McShane, the British actor who played Al Swearengen in the acclaimed HBO television series.

A dark Western set in the 1870s, Deadwood ended its run without satisfactory closure in 2006, after three seasons. Since then, there have been rumours of a couple of made-for-TV movies possibly emerging, to wrap things up in a more substantial way.

"I think that was a panacea to real fans and it hasn't worked out," McShane said bluntly.

McShane stars in the new TV series Kings, which debuts March 15 on Citytv and NBC.