David Milch, the creative genius behind HBO's "Deadwood," is now saying he'll take a slightly different approach when he winds up the series next year with two two-hour specials. Instead of episodes that take place over the course of a day, as most episodes did, Milch says the culminating telefilms "will deal differently with time."

Milch's comments on the future of the beloved, though expensive, show that stars Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant and Molly Parker come in a new book, "Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills." He's listed as the author, and it's filled with his comments about the backstory -- along with insights on the characters from the actors who play them and juicy bits about the historical figures that inspired the show.

"The two two-hour specials will be a good way to finish the series," Milch writes. "The first thirty-six episodes took an Aristotelian approach to dramatic structure -- more or less, each story took place in twenty-four hours. This seemed to me in service to creating an atmosphere or ordinariness, no matter how disjunctive with the viewer's idea of ordinariness the events portrayed might have seemed."

He adds: "These last two telefilms will deal differently with time."

So are we talking weeks? Months? Or does this mean we'll get to see Al Swearengen and Seth Bullock get old and civilized as their town grows up around them? Stay tuned.

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"Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills."
Bloomsbury/HBO/Melcher Media. $29.95.

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