Taylor Sheridan Almost Sold 'Yellowstone' to HBO with Robert Redford as John Dutton

by Darian Scalamoni

    The legend of Yellowstone creator sort of came over night. Taylor Sheridan, who is best known for his knack to pump out new scripts, whether that be for Oscar-nominated films such as Sicario or Hell or High Water or being the driving force behind Paramount+'s original series, just has the goods for the historic studio. 

    Sheridan started as an actor, probably best known for his role on Sons of Anarchy as the Deputy Chief of Charming, California but was unceremoniously killed off in Season 3 after quitting the show due to a payment dispute. With help and motivation from his wife, she told him, he needed to stop moping around and start working again. So, he began to write. From 2015 on, Sheridan couldn't stop writing. He has written 6 feature films and created 6 television series in less than 10 years. He is again, probably best known for creating the new iconic brand that is the Dutton family chronicling a legacy of ranchers through the flagship show, Yellowstone. However, the story of how the series was brought to life may be even more interesting than the show itself.

    Sheridan had written the show originally for the premium cable network, HBO. Prior to the massive streaming boom, Sheridan was coming off writing and directing the film Wind River, he brought Yellowstone to then-HBO production chief, Mike Lombardo. Lombardo responded somewhat dismissively to the script, saying to Sheridan that he would need Robert Redford in the role of John Dutton in order to get the series greenlit and for it to succeed. So, Sheridan went out and got the legendary actor to commit, but upon bringing the series back to Lombardo, his response was unsatisfactory. "I meant an actor like Redford," Lombardo said. Upon Lombardo's eventual exit from HBO, Sheridan was able to wrangle the rights of his series back and the rest is history. He then got Kevin Costner to star in the series that has constantly been the number one show on cable and the franchise is just getting started.

    Since then, Sheridan created a mini-series based on the first of the Dutton legacy, aptly titled, 1883, when the show takes place as the Dutton family begins migrating towards Montana to eventually settle and build their iconic ranch. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Sam Elliot starred in what was a big show for Paramount+ but his latest takes place 40 years later and boasts the biggest of stars. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren star in 1923, which just did its biggest premiere in the history of the streamer which broke the record previously set by, that's right, you guessed it, another Taylor Sheridan-created series that was released this year, Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone. It's truly remarkable the amount of freedom that Sheridan has been given by the powers over at Paramount. As he revealed in a recent Deadline interview, Sheridan says that he believes that "No one has had the freedom I've had since Robert Evans ran Paramount." With the budgets revealed for all of Sheridan's series, especially that of 1923, it's obvious to see that the studio welcomes their investment in the creative talent as he has more series down the pipeline that I'm excited to see come to life. I bet Mike Lombardo is kicking himself for not believing in Taylor Sheridan then, huh?