How Taylor Sheridan Created America’s Most Popular TV Show
The AtlanticInside Paramount’s Yellowstone juggernaut.
Read when you’ve got time to spare.
Once you hit play, the pull of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone can’t be denied. Maybe you, too, are now grappling with the urge to go live that mountain ranch life. Or perhaps you’re not yet on the bandwagon and simply want to know if the western soap deserves the award-season buzz it’s getting (short answer: yes—keep reading). This collection of articles explores it all, from the real-life cowboys running Yellowstone and its offshoots, 1883 and 1923, to the urban transplants pushing in and still trying to make the land their own. Plus—why Yellowstone is less of a ‘red-state’ show than you think.
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Inside Paramount’s Yellowstone juggernaut.
It’s simplistic to label Yellowstone a “red-state drama.” But the cowboy soap speaks the language of culture war with a perfect accent.
Yellowstone has lured a litany of movie legends to take over television in shows like Tulsa King and 1923.
Debunking the myth that the great national park was a wilderness untouched by humans.
He feeds 300 people a day in harsh conditions—and wouldn’t have it any other way.
The mercurial Beth Dutton evinces the ruthless clarity of a woman in a man’s world.
The actor wasn’t satisfied with the Native representation he saw onscreen. Now he’s helping TV’s biggest drama get it right.
Already an Oscar-winning singer-songwriter with a dedicated following, Ryan Bingham is now TV famous for his role as Walker on the hit series Yellowstone.
The TV-inspired aesthetic has taken hold even far from the ranches of the west, as New Yorkers don cowboy boots.
The TV sensation, largely set elsewhere, leans on Texan artists from Uncle Lucius to the Panhandlers to set an authentic Western tone.
A writer in Bozeman, Montana, grapples with the wealthy wave of newcomers gentrifying the town she moved to ten years ago—as a dirtbag pursuing the western dream.
People crave purpose, community and, frankly, impact.
Catch elk bugling in the fall and fewer crowds in the spring, for starters.