While plenty of people have praised Taylor Sheridan’sYellowstonefor reviving the Western genre on TV, the truth is, it didn’t revive it at all – it may have actually killed it. With the glut of content across network, cable, and the myriad number of streaming platforms out there, it’s hard for any show to truly break out in a big way. Plenty of shows are temporary flashes in the pan, but have little lasting impact. It’s even rarer that that show spawns multiple spinoffs, asTaylor Sheridan’sYellowstonedid, becoming an entire universe.
There are a few megaproducers working in TV who have created sprawling universes, whose names immediately come to mind: Dick Wolf, Shonda Rhimes, Greg Berlanti, Ryan Murphy, etc. Taylor Sheridan is now one of those names, with everything he touches seemingly turning to gold. With that success,Sheridan has been anointed the new king of the neo-Western genre. But while it’s fair to give him his flowers, it’s not quite fair or correct to say he’s saved the TV Western.
The Western Genre Has Been Successful In Past Decades - But Mostly In Movies
There Have Been Some Fantastic Westerns In The 21st Century
The Western genre may have been thriving on the big screen for the past few decades. Since the turn of the millennium, the genre has experienced a bit of a revival, with several Western movies, both period pieces and more modern-day retellings, seeing resounding success, whether critically, commercially, or both. Among others, those movies released since the turn of the century include
The list is far longer, but those films are just a smattering of modern movies that have successfully reinvigorated and, in some cases, reinvented the Western genre on the big screen. While the genre may not be the powerhouse it was in the gloriousGolden Age of Westerns of the ’50s and ’60s, it’s hardly disappeared. And when a movie in the genre is released, whether theatrically or on streaming, it tends to do well.
Western TV Shows Have Been Few And Far Between
The Western genre on TV, on the other hand, has had a much greater struggle to revitalize itself in the past few decades. It, like movies, had a golden age on TV through the ’50s and ’60s, withclassic Western shows that still hold up todaylikeBonanza,The Lone Ranger,Gunsmoke, andRawhide, among others. Huge Western stars of older eras also transitioned to TV at that time to great success, such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. By the late 1960s, however, there were no new Western TV shows being greenlit, and by the early 1970s, they were done. A Vietnam War-era American audience just wasn’t interested in the seemingly old-fashioned genre.
Since then, the Western genre has struggled to reinvent itself for the TV medium in a way the Western has never had an issue with in movies. There are far fewer pure Western offerings in that medium in this century:Deadwood,Longmire,Justified, andHell on Wheelscome to mind. Possibly a few others. The rest, however good they might be, are not true Westerns, but other genres blended with the trappings of a Western.
10 Western TV Shows To Watch Next If You Love Yellowstone
After the end of Yellowstone, these 10 Western TV shows are the perfect replacement for the sprawling story of the Duttons and their ranch.
Yellowstoneseemingly changed that. Taylor Sheridan’s show has been a juggernaut since it premiered in 2018 and put the TV Western back on the map. Its ratings were through the roof, and it became a rare water-cooler sort of show that created buzz and conversation after each episode.Yellowstone’s pop culture impact was so immediate that it actually created a huge influx of wealthy people moving to Montana, which in itself became a problem for the residents in and around Yellowstone (viaCNBC). The Western, it appeared, was back – except it wasn’t.
Yellowstone Isn’t Really A Western - It’s A Drama
It Has Western Elements, But Not A Western Narrative At Its Core
Like the aforementioned shows that are Western-adjacent,Yellowstoneisn’t actually a Western. Instead, it’s a drama.Yellowstone’s story beats are firmly rooted in the family melodrama, specifically the gangster drama in the vein of theDallasof old. A closer modern equivalent would beSuccession. Narratively,Yellowstoneis far closer toSuccessionthan toLongmire.It’s closer toThe Godfatherthan toGunsmoke:the family infighting over an empire and a legacy, with rivalries, alliances, and betrayals forming the core of the series. That’s a melodrama, not a Western.
Narratively,Yellowstoneis far closer toSuccessionthan toLongmire.It’s closer toThe Godfatherthan toGunsmoke.
That’s not to say thatYellowstoneisn’t great, or that it doesn’t include definite elements of the Western genre. For starters, the Montana setting is classic Western iconography. The rolling plains, the mountains, the horses, the wide-open spaces; it’s the landscape we think of when we think of the classic Western. That landscape being encroached upon by increasing industrialization and a nature-based way of life being slowly pushed out by dubious progress and the advancement of the modern era is also a theme that can be found in the Western genre.
Yellowstone Officially Ended 4 Months Ago, But Taylor Sheridan’s Latest Spinoff Proves It’s Bigger Than Ever
Even though Yellowstone (the television show) has been over for months, Taylor Sheridan’s popular neo-Western franchise continues to expand.
The inclusion of Native Americans in opposition to the white man, particularly the dubious treatment they receive, is also a theme that underpins Westerns. In the case of the classic genre, Native Americans have been maligned as the Other, as “savages,” “Indians,” and other pejorative terms used to frame Native American and Indigenous people of the American West as violent and primitive people standing in the way of rightful white expansion.
5
1883
1
1923
2
Kayce spinoff
Beth & Rip spinoff
TBD
Thankfully, that hasn’t really been the case withYellowstone, which has focused more on cultural preservation and battles over land rights for Native Americans. Regardless, at its core,Yellowstoneis a quasi-gangster family melodrama, not a Western.
Why Yellowstone’s Success Represents Another Setback For The Western Genre
Networks & Streamers Don’t Want Westerns; They Want Taylor Sheridan
One might think that the success ofYellowstonecan only be good for the Western genre on TV, but you could make a fair argument that that’s not the case. The problem withYellowstoneis that it didn’t re-launch the Western genre on TV; instead, it launched the Taylor Sheridan Western-ish universe. Again, that’s not a slight against Sheridan, who is a machine of a writer and clearly a savvy negotiator behind closed doors. But as all Taylor Sheridan shows come from his mind, they all tend to have the same flavor – and now he’s being spread too thin.
But as all Taylor Sheridan shows come from his mind, they all tend to have the same flavor – and now he’s being spread too thin.
We’re already seeing the drawbacks of that. HisYellowstonespinoffs haven’t been as well-received as the flagship show, with some of those spinoffs being canceled in development and others taking far longer to make it to screens than originally anticipated. Even so, networks and streamers aren’t known for their brave swings – they stick with what works. And Sheridan works. So they’ve been more inclined to greenlight more Taylor Sheridan shows than to greenlight other shows that might actually be truer to the classic Western genre.
SinceYellowstonepremiered, there have been several excellent Western-adjacent TV series that have been greenlit - but few of them are true Westerns.Dark Windsis critically acclaimed, but it’s a noir procedural thriller with Western elements.Outer Rangeis a sci-fi Western.The Mandalorianis a Western sci-fi. Even shows that debuted prior toYellowstonehave been a genre blend:Westworldis again Western and sci-fi;Wynonna Earpis a Western horror-fantasy, etc.
American Primeval’s Success Should Be A Wake-Up Call For Netflix To Compete With Taylor Sheridan’s Western TV Show Empire, Because It’s Proved It Can
Netflix created a budding Western franchise with American Primeval, which could finally be an answer to Taylor Sheridan’s wealth Paramount shows.
While there are some excellent true Western series out there, includingGodless,Billy the Kid, andAmerican Primeval, to name a few, they haven’t received nearly the viewership numbers or the buzz ofYellowstone, and several of them are limited series only. They’re certainly not about to launch entire interconnected universes on the level of Taylor Sheridan’s world. It’s a real shame, too, as other Western shows deserve just as much attention and marketing.
Can The Western Genre Ever Properly Return To TV After Yellowstone?
It Can - But It Needs Buy-In
That’s not to say that the Western genre can never return to TV in a proper fashion in a post-Yellowstone world. It can. It has – again, there are definitely TV shows in the true classic Western mold out there right now. But audiences have to watch them and keep watching them. Networks and streamers have to greenlight them, and they have to back them. They can’t, for example, do what Netflix always does, when it canceled the excellent Australian Western,Territory, after just one season. LikeYellowstone, they need and deserve the full weight of star power and a marketing budget, and they’ll surely succeed.
Yellowstone
Cast
Yellowstone follows the Dutton family, led by patriarch John Dutton, as they defend their expansive ranch against external threats from land developers, an Indian reservation, and America’s first national park. Released on August 18, 2025, this series examines the complex dynamics and violent conflicts surrounding the largest contiguous ranch in the United States.
