American territories of the late 19th Century could be a pretty grim place, and that’s exactly what we see in this first trailer for Hostiles, the new movie from writer/director Scott Cooper.

Known for heavy, burdened character pieces like Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace, as well as the mafia movie Black Mass, Cooper’s latest transfers that to the Old West of 1892. Christian Bale stars as a legendary Army Captain who’s ordered to bring a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory and back to their tribal home.

Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, and Ben Foster co-star along with Jesse Plemmons, Stephen Lang, Peter Mullen, Q’orianka Kilcher, Adam Beach, and Bill Camp.

Hostiles opens on December 22, 2017.