The Return of Josey Wales is a 1986 American Western film directed by and starring Michael Parks. It is a sequel to Clint Eastwood's 1976 film The Outlaw Josey Wales and was adapted from The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales, the second novel featuring the Josey Wales character, by Asa Earl Carter. The novel was published under Carter's pen name Forrest Carter, which he used to present a false persona involving a claim of Cherokee ancestry.