Writer/director/creator/showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” is all about land grabbing and holding on to precious land, so it makes sense that as his popularity starts to really crest, he begins to really expand his territory. His home range is Paramount+, and if you thought yesterday’s Paramount/ViacomCBS Investor’s flex was big, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Yesterday, Sheridan and Paramount announced yet another “Yellowstone” spin-off, “1932,” and promised that four new shows were on the way: “The Tulsa King” a mob show starring Sylvester Stallone, “Lioness” a CIA series with Zoe Saldana, “Land Man,” an oil-industry series with Billy Bob Thorton and “Bass Reeves,” a Black Western featuring David Oyelowo.
But there’s more, according to a piece from the Wall Street Journal. The details are many, but to condense them down, “Yellowstone” season five is being split into two parts, seven episodes each. Why? Well, the Sheridan-verse likes to do this thing where a beloved show (“Yellowstone”) is used to tease a new show (see what they did with “Yellowstone” Western spin-off “1883”), and they will be doing that again.
Part one of “Yellowstone” season five, arriving in the summer, will be used to tease Stallone’s “The Tulsa King” series coming in the fall of 2022. After that, part two of season five will also air in the fall of 2022. Think of it like Marvel—an interconnected universe, but for adults and Middle Americans.
That second part of “Yellowstone” will also be used to launch “1932,” the third “Yellowstone” spin-off, which follows a son of characters played in “1883” by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw and is set in the era of prohibition. The “6666” show missing from the announcements yesterday featuring “Yellowstone” actor Jefferson White (aka Jimmy)? That is still coming, but it’s slightly TBD right now. Named after the Four Sixes ranch in Texas that is a growing part of the plot of “Yellowstone,” universe, “6666” is expected to premiere as a stand-alone series on Paramount Network later this year or next.
How will Sheridan pull this all off, given that he’s a writer, director, and showrunner of most of these series already, including writing all of season four of “Yellowstone” and most of “1883” by himself? It seems like he already doesn’t sleep, but the solution here, it seems, is to pull back.
Here’s a key excerpt from the WSJ piece talking to Paramount/MTV’s Chris McCarthy.
“The executive notes that Mr. Sheridan has pulled back from his duties as a showrunner and director to focus on writing. Some “Yellowstone” fans complained that the show’s plot idled in its most recent outing. Mr. McCarthy says split opinions are expected for a fourth-season show with a passionate fan base.”
These new shows are being developed at full gallop by the standards of big-budget television,” he added. “Mr. Sheridan is only in the outline phase for the script of ‘1932,’ but like ‘1883,’ the period drama would have to be prepped, shot, and ready for premiere in roughly 10 months.”
Somehow, in all of this, more “1883” is expected to appear on Paramount+ in the fall, followed by the planned second installment of “Yellowstone” season five. So that would be four shows on air on Paramount+ this year, “Yellowstone,” “1883,” “Mayor Of Kingstown” season two, another Sheridan show starring Jeremy Renner, and “The Tulsa King.”
You’ve heard of empires, but this is kind of becoming nuts. If anything, it’s good that Sheridan is recognizing that he is doing too much and pulling back, because as we’ve discussed on our “Yellowstoners” podcast— yes, we have one of those—this season is definitely the weakest so far.