6 Greatest Western Shows on Paramount+ That Are 10/10, No Notes

Image via Paramount+ Published Aug 15, 2026, 6:08 PM EDT Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family. Sign in to your Collider account In the age of neo-Westerns we presently find ourselves, perhaps no streaming giant has a finer collection of modern television horse operas than Paramount+. Not only does this streaming platform feature the near-full catalog of Taylor Sheridan dramas (sorry, Yellowstone), but it also offers some of the best non-Sheridan works out there. While perhaps not as popular as Netflix or HBO Max, Paramount+ remains the streaming home of some of the best Western TV shows out there. But just because a Western show is on Paramount+ does not mean it's perfect. After all, Landman has been considered a neo-Western by some, and it features its own share of disappointments. Likewise, Hell on Wheels falls more in line with traditional Western definitions and yet still has a few holes of its own. So, with that in mind, here are the Paramount+ Westerns that we're proud to give 10/10 status, believing that these are the cream of the streaming platform's abundant Western crop. 'Joe Pickett' (2021–2023) Image via Paramount+ Although it only ran for two seasons in the early 2020s, Joe Pickett is a neo-Western mystery drama that is just about everything you could hope for. Originally a Spectrum series, it moved to Paramount+ for its second season, which pushed the show's titular Wyoming game warden (played by Michael Dorman) further into the wilderness than ever; the series cast includes Julianna Guill, Sharon Lawrence, and David Alan Grier. The way the show expertly blends the Pickett family's life with the thrilling mysteries of the great outdoors makes this a must-watch on the streamer. Based on the book series by C. J. Box, Joe Pickett tackles a new case per season that forces Joe to confront his troubled past in order to ensure his family's future. Unlike some of the more nihilistic takes on the modern West, this series speaks to the traditional Western hero, with Joe exuding all the qualities of the type of lawman seen in the Westerns of the '50s and '60s. It's certainly a trek into the wild worth taking. '1923' (2022–2025) Image via Paramount+ The second prequel in Taylor Sheridan's larger Yellowstone universe, 1923 is a two-season prequel drama that admittedly leaps outside the typical period constraints that most Westerns follow, though it does so in a way that still feels both historical and thrilling. As the Duttons of this age — led by Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren — face those who would steal their land from beneath their fallen corpses, Sheridan uses this prequel seris to speak to a lesser-known period of Montana history. Saddle up, this one's intense. During America's Prohibition, Big Sky Country was already in a Great Depression of its own, and we can see the desperation throughout. Everything from the violent outbursts by rival sheepherds, the poor treatment of Native American women, the globetrotting adventures of a World War I vet (played by Brandon Sklenar), and the depravity of a villain who wishes to gobble up all of Paradise Valley for himself, is on full display here. 1923 tells as fantastic and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, redemption, and sacrifice that's far better than Yellowstone. 'Lawmen: Bass Reeves' (2023) Image via Paramount+ Although executive produced by Taylor Sheridan, Lawmen: Bass Reeves is the brainchild of Chad Feehan, who brought the titular lawman to life through the performance of the exceptional David Oyelowo. Told in eight parts, this Bass Reeves miniseries follows the slave-turned-U.S. Marshal as he patrols the Indian Territory in the latter half of the 19th century, all while dealing with the social and societal pressures around him. Oyelowo is incredible as Reeves, giving a true face to the historical figure who remains largely unknown. Filled to the brim with fantastic performers, which also include Lauren E. Banks, Forrest Goodluck, Dennis Quaid, and Donald Sutherland, Lawmen: Bass Reeves is a standalone story that paints an often overlooked picture of the American West. Although Feehan has teased that Lawmen could become an anthology series (indeed, we hope it does), the Bass Reeves story is just as good as any other drama here. Plus, unlike the aforementioned shows, this one actually does take place in the wild Old West. Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor SheridanShow Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for. 🤠Yellowstone 🛢️Landman 👑Tulsa King ⚖️Mayor of Kingstown FIND YOUR WORLD → 01 Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind. ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly. AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing. NEXT QUESTION → 03 Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed. AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing. NEXT QUESTION → 04 Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people. AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt. AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for. NEXT QUESTION → 06 What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending. AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns. NEXT QUESTION → 07 How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested. ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you. AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me. NEXT QUESTION → 09 What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal. AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall. NEXT QUESTION → 10 When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind. AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it. REVEAL MY SHOW → Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes. 🤠 Yellowstone 🛢️ Landman 👑 Tulsa King ⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it. You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to. You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land. You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Longmire' (2012–2017) Image via Netflix Based on the popular neo-Western mystery novels by Craig Johnson, Longmire follows the titular Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) as he patrols the fictional Absaroka County. The series also features Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Cassidy Freeman. If you've heard of Longmire before, you've likely heard of it as "your dad's favorite show," and while there's some truth that the audience for this A&E-turned-Netflix series skewed to older demographics, it's about as thrilling neo-Western content as you'll ever get on television. Nowadays, the show is streaming in its entirety on Paramount+. For six seasons, Longmire was a delight for those who loved the books as well as those who had never picked up a single copy. The idea that a modern-day Wyoming lawman could exist in the same traditional style as the mystic sheriff portrayals in classic Westerns is an intriguing one, so it's no wonder the show was so beloved. Now that Longmire has moved to Paramount+, many (including this author) are hoping that we'll get a Longmire revival sooner rather than later. Until then, the series is perfect as is. '1883' (2021–2022) If you're still infatuated with the Yellowstone universe, then Taylor Sheridan's groundbreaking original prequel, 1883, remains a masterpiece to enjoy on Paramount+. Set in the titular year, it follows the original band of Duttons that traveled from Texas all the way up the Oregon Trail to Paradise Valley, Montana. With a cast that includes Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May, and LaMonica Garrett, 1883 has become a quick classic due to its powerhouse performances and attention to historical detail. With an episode count of 10, 1883 painstakingly presents an uncompromising, bloody, and robust picture of the American West. As the Duttons deal with everything from bandits and vandals to violent Indians and disease, we get a full-scope look at the hardships that those westward homesteaders faced. As an origin story to the Yellowstone brand, 1883 is consistently hailed as the franchise's best. 'Gunsmoke' (1955–1975) Image via CBS When it comes to Western television, there is no show more popular, more well-known, or longer running than Gunsmoke. Plenty of genre tropes hailed from this 20-season program, and although it may not have originated them all, it certainly popularized them. Following Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) as he patrols Dodge City, Gunsmoke was originally a black-and-white half-hour series when it began, but by the time it ended it had graduated to hour-long color episodes. Prior to the TV series, Gunsmoke originated as a radio program that enchanted the airwaves from 1952 to 1961, starring William Conrad as the famous U.S. Marshal. It was certainly a trailblazer. Even on streaming, Gunsmoke continues to make powerful waves on every service it's featured on, including Paramount+. Though only Seasons 7 and 8 are currently on the aforementioned streaming platform (which includes the show's very best hour, "The Gallows"), Paramount+ was previously home to the vast library of Gunsmoke adventures. It's highly likely that the rest of Gunsmoke's explosive seasons will find their way back to Paramount+, but until then, there are still plenty of Marshal Dillon tales to revisit on the platform. Gunsmoke Release Date 1955 - 1975-00-00 Directors Andrew V. McLaglen, Harry Harris, Ted Post, Bernard McEveety, Vincent McEveety Cast James Arness Marshal Matt Dillon Writers John Meston, Charles Marquis Warren, Paul Savage Main Genre Western Seasons 20 Creator(s) Charles Marquis Warren, Clyde Ware Streaming Service(s) Paramount Plus