Godless: Netflix series about woman-only town dominated by male-spoken dialogue

The men dominate new Western series set in a self-professed 'no man's land'

“Welcome to no man's land,” reads the tagline for Godless, a new Netflix show quick to point out it's set in a town purely inhabited by women. It's because of this, however, that the western series is drawing criticism for its poor representation of female characters.

The seven-part series starring Michelle Dockery and Jeff Daniels, debuted on the streaming service earlier this week, generating positive reviews from critics. Despite this, one Twitter user noticed that the series failed to capitalise on its marketing angle of being a show about women, pulling out some figures to make their point.

User @innesmck pointed out that, in the show's first episode, 73% of the lines were spoken by men compared to lines of dialogue spoken by women which sat at 27%.

“I used the subtitles to determine what constitutes a new line,” he wrote, adding: “I've included the [speaks in Paiute] as best I could as women's lines. I did not include the [Grunts] or [Sighs] though believe me, this would only have dramatically increased the count for men.”

These expecting a series filled with strong female characters will most likely tune off disappointed with former Downton Abbey star Dockery one of only three actresses to be billed as part of the main cast (Merritt Wever and Tantoo Cardinal sit alongside her).

That's just half the amount of actors who comprise the ensemble alongside Daniels - namely Jack O'Connell, Scoot McNairy Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kim Coates and Sam Waterston.

Now, of course, the Twitter user only watched one episode so his findings are not representative of the wider series at large - which is being hailed by critics - however, the figures remain disappointing when considering the western series' setting.

Godless was created by Scott Frank and is executive produced by Steven Soderbergh.

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