God Save Texas

God Save Texas is a 2024 American documentary series, directed by Richard Linklater, Alex Stapleton, and Iliana Sosa. It is inspired by the book God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright.^[1] The series explores the past, present, and future of Texas.

God Save Texas
Directed by	Richard Linklater Alex Stapleton Iliana Sosa
Music by	Graham Reynolds
Country of origin	United States
Original languages	English Spanish
No. of episodes	3
Production
Executive producers	Richard Linklater Alex Gibney Peter Berg Michael Lombardo Stacey Offman Richard Perello Elizabeth Rogers Lawrence Wright Nancy Abraham Lisa Heller
Producers	Nell Constantinople Danielle Mynard Meghan O'Hara
Cinematography	Brian Dawson EJ Enríquez Shane F. Kelly Arlene Nelson Judy Phu Paul Raila Graham Willoughby
Editors	Spencer Averick Paul Greenhouse Lorena Luciano Rosella Tursi
Production companies	HBO Documentary Films Jigsaw Productions Film 44
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	February 27 (2024-02-27) – February 28, 2024 (2024-02-28)

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2024.^[2] It premiered February 27, 2024, on HBO.^[3]

Premise

Chronicling the past, present, and future of Texas, from the perspective of three directors. Following the prison industrial complex in Huntsville,^[4][5] the energy industry in Houston, and the humanity and healing following the 2019 El Paso shooting in El Paso.^[6]

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Original release date
1	"Hometown Prison"	Richard Linklater	February 27, 2024 (2024-02-27)
2	"The Price of Oil"	Alex Stapleton	February 28, 2024 (2024-02-28)
3	"La Frontera"	Iliana Sosa	February 28, 2024 (2024-02-28)

Production

In June 2014, it was announced God Save Texas was in development at HBO, with Lawrence Wright set to write, based upon his play Sonny’s Last Shot, and Lauren Shuler Donner set to executive produce.^[7][8]

In March 2022, it was announced the project was instead a documentary-series with Richard Linklater set to direct an episode, with Wright still attached as executive producer, and Alex Gibney set to executive produce.^[9] While directing the episode, Linklater went on a process of search and discovery, determining an excessive amount of his high school football teammates ended up incarcerated by the prison industrial complex in Texas.^[10]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 100% approval rating based on 5 critic reviews.^[11] On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[12]