Taylor Sheridan’s $175 Million Western Was Officially The Start Of A New Era

Published Oct 9, 2026, 4:31 PM EDT Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers. Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism. Taylor Sheridan started a new era for an entire streaming service with his $175 million Western series. Taylor Sheridan has long been one of the most prolific and influential screenwriters in Hollywood. Through Yellowstone and its spinoffs, Sheridan almost single-handedly revived the Western genre on television. Now, Sheridan has nine returning and new shows on the air at the same time, and the list of Sheridan's best shows is even longer. Because of all his success, Taylor Sheridan has started a few eras of television in the last decade. Yellowstone started a Western renaissance and 1883 and 1923 helped turn it into one of the largest franchises in modern television. His standalone shows, like Landman and Lioness, helped cement him as one of only a handful of screenwriters who have become household names. In short, Sheridan has completely transformed television in a number of ways. Perhaps the most interesting way Sheridan has changed television is due to one of his earliest shows: the Yellowstone spinoff 1883. While it only lasted one season and never found the widespread popularity and acclaim that Yellowstone itself did, 1883 was groundbreaking in a way Yellowstone never could be. Through 1883, Taylor Sheridan saved Paramount+ and turned it into one of the giants of the streaming era. 1883 Was Paramount+’s First Flagship Show Before 1883, Paramount+ wasn't even a fraction of the streaming service it now is. 1883 premiered in December 2021, a few months after CBS All Access became Paramount+. Before then, Paramount+ only had a handful of shows that were even noteworthy, and none of them were big enough to cement Paramount+ as a legitimate competitor to streamers like Netflix and Hulu. In the streaming landscape, Paramount+ was viewed as being not worth the money; it was a niche platform that a lot of people simply weren't interested in. Paramount+'s catalog of original and classic shows in 2021 was sparse at best. Paramount's most successful shows at the time had been leased out to other streamers. Yellowstone was on Peacock, and South Park was on HBO Max. Several of the streamer's originals at the time weren't great. Dexter: New Blood is widely considered the weakest entry in that franchise, while Star Trek: Discovery was hugely controversial when it first began. Mayor of Kingstown did start in November 2021, but its first season was widely panned by critics. All Paramount+ really had to hang its hat on in 2021 was Yellowjackets, and while it was an immediate hit, even that had its own problems. Yellowjackets was a Showtime original, meaning it required an even more expensive subscription than the base Paramount+ fare. A lot of viewers couldn't justify that additional price for a single show, and for the first year of its existence, Paramount+ was floundering. Then, 1883 came along. Unlike Yellowjackets, it was available at the base Paramount+ subscription tier, and it more than doubled the viewership record set by Mayor of Kingstown just a month prior (via Deadline). Most importantly, 1883 was good. It's considered one of the best Western shows of the 21st century, which helped legitimize Paramount+ as a streaming service that was actually worth subscribing to. Before 1883, Paramount+ was a niche streamer you might shell out for if you really wanted to watch Yellowjackets. After 1883, it became a rival to Netflix and Hulu that promised even more Yellowstone spinoff shows to come. Taylor Sheridan’s Shows Still Carry Paramount+ To This Day Via MovieStillsDB Taylor Sheridan and 1883 established Paramount+ as a legitimate streaming service back in 2021, but Sheridan is also still carrying the platform to this day. In the five years since 1883 became its first flagship show, Paramount+ has added a lot of great programming. From new Star Trek and Dexter shows to new originals like MobLand, it has a fairly robust catalog of shows both old and new that Sheridan didn't have a hand in. Still, Taylor Sheridan is far and away the biggest asset Paramount+ has at its disposal. As previously mentioned, he has nine upcoming shows for the rest of this year and 2027 alone, and he already created a huge catalog of existing shows like Tulsa King and The Madison. Sheridan's shows also routinely break Paramount+'s viewership records, often replacing other shows he made. He's consistently and frequently making hit shows for the streamer, and there's likely a very large subset of Paramount+'s customers that are only paying the subscription fee to watch his shows. Taylor Sheridan's Upcoming Shows Title Release Date/Window Marshals season 2 October 4, 2026 Tulsa King season 4 October 16, 2026 Mayor of Kingstown season 5 Late 2026/Early 2027 Landman season 3 Early 2027 Dutton Ranch season 2 Mid-2027 Frisco King 2027 The Madison season 2 2027 Lioness season 4 TBD 1944 TBD Even as Paramount branches out to other franchises and creators, Sheridan is still the company's golden goose. His enduring importance to Paramount is great for the company now, but it could soon become a massive problem. Last year, Sheridan signed a new contract with NBC Universal that, beginning in 2029, would see his new shows and movies be made for Peacock and NBC instead of Paramount+ and CBS. Again, Paramount+ has found its footing and isn't totally reliant on Taylor Sheridan anymore, but the fact remains that his departure for NBC Universal is going to be a major loss for the company. Paramount+ will likely hold onto the rights to everything Sheridan has created so far, but without the promise of future Yellowstone projects and standalone shows, who knows how many subscribers will leave. Taylor Sheridan built Paramount+ into what it is today, and he also has the power to tear it back down. Release Date 2021 - 2022-00-00 Network Paramount+ Showrunner Ron Burkle Directors Ben Richardson, Christina Alexandra Voros, Taylor Sheridan Writers Taylor Sheridan Creator(s) Taylor Sheridan