My favorite series of all time. Just finished a re-watch with the wifey recently, and it just gets better upon each viewing.
As for the history question: most of the major players are based on real-life people, and a lot of the broad strokes are there, but Milch took a lot of liberties as well. Seth Bullock, for instance, was not an ill-tempered killjoy with a short fuse as the show depicts. He was actually known for his ability to negotiate and settle situations without using force. He did have several run-ins with Al Swearengen over his operations at the Gem, which eventually led to Bullock drawing a dividing line through the main thoroughfare of the camp, and he pretty much just enforced the laws on his side of the line. There's a lot of detailed history on Deadwood from this time period, and I'd recommend any fan of the show go spend some time reading about it. Pretty cool stuff.
There were some things swirling earlier this year about doing a film. Don't know if anything's developed on that. I'll never forgive HBO for cancelling the show. Same for Rome. Loopy fucking cunts.
