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Taylor Sheridan’s future as the modern King of Westerns seemed to be coming to a quick end when it was first announced that Yellowstone would conclude after five seasons. The behind-the-scenes disputes with Kevin Costner made it even worse. Would fans remain loyal after the Dances with Wolves star’s exit? Would anyone care about the Yellowstone spin-offs?
Today, all doubts have been erased. Taylor Sheridan’s empire is stronger than ever, thanks to the high viewership figures of Marshals,Dutton Ranch, and Landman. On top of that, the future of his non-Westerns looks great, too. The crime drama, Tulsa King, is getting a spin-off while Lioness is back for a third season. If everything goes well, Lioness will have a spin-off, too.
'Marshals' and 'Dutton Ranch' Have Outperformed 'Yellowstone' Season 5
Numbers don’t lie, and the best way to determine whether Taylor Sheridan is having a better run after Yellowstone is to look at the viewership figures of the current shows. According to a 2025 report by The Hollywood Reporter, the second part of Yellowstone's fifth and final season garnered 12.8 million views. That’s not a bad number at all. In fact, Sheridan's popular neo-Western series, The White Lotus, and The Penguin were the only shows that originated on cable outlets to climb above the five million viewer mark.
The latest Nielsen Ratings report on the best-performing shows of 2025–2026 reveals that Dutton Ranch is among the top 10 overall rankings. It's in sixth place with 19.2 million viewers after 35 days. Since the TV season concluded on May 24, viewership figures for the Yellowstone spin-off are only for the first three episodes. Imagine the rest? This baby has officially outperformed its parent. CBS’ Marshals performed equally well. It was ranked the top broadcast series with 19.3 million viewers over 35 days.
It gets better. Season 2 of Landman beat both series, garnering 19.8 million viewers (an increase of five million viewers from Season 1) and earning the fourth-place spot. This makes it the most-watched Taylor Sheridan production. Despite Landman's controversial plots, the corporate-themed neo-Western continues to shine. It would be a shame if it didn’t get its own spin-off. It would also be a crime to ignore The Madison, which drew 8 million global viewers across its first 10 days on Paramount+, according to Variety. Every naysayer who had declared themselves a modern-day Nostradamus and predicted a bleak future for Sheridan has now been proven wrong.
Taylor Sheridan’s NBCUniversal Deal Guarantees Him a Bright Future Away from the 'Yellowstone' Franchise
Data shows that most people love the Yellowstone franchise. Despite that love, Taylor Sheridan will have to leave it all behind someday. What happens then? Will the detractors have a chance to shine? Not really. The writer-producer has another deal already. It all depends on how creative he will be going forward.
Taylor Sheridan will exit Paramount at the end of 2028. In late 2025, various outlets revealed that the prolific creator had closed a $1 billion, five-year movie-and-television deal with NBCUniversal. This means he’ll be producing movies and shows for the studio and the streaming service, Peacock. The deal will begin January 1, 2029, when Sheridan’s TV deal with Paramount officially ends.
Sheridan's TV shows remain Paramount’s property. While television is great, I’d like to see more great movies from him. I’d also like to see him tap into the creative space he was operating in before Yellowstone. During that time, Sheridan made the Oscar-nominated neo-Western, Hell or High Water. Unfortunately, he hasn’t made anything quite like it again. Can he? Definitely!
Hopefully, Taylor Sheridan’s NBCUniversal deal allows him to create more projects for the big screen than for the small screen. The shows he has made so far are already some of the greatest of all time. It wouldn’t hurt for him to gift us 10 Oscar-worthy movies, too.
Alternatively, he can do both. Sheridan doesn’t like writer's rooms, but if he changed his mind, he could delegate the storytelling for more of his TV shows to focus on movies. Whatever happens, the future looks bright.
