Taylor Sheridan Reveals His Failed Dream With Martin Scorsese Helped Him Create ‘Yellowstone’ That Blew Away Television Landscape

The American neo-Western drama series Yellowstone, created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, debuted in 2018 on Paramount Network and stars Kevin Coster, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, and others. The first half of the final season of the show, which was based on disputes along the shared borders of the Yellowstone Ranch, debuted in November 2022, followed by the second half in late 2023.

When it first aired in 2018, Yellowstone was met with mixed reactions from viewers, but as time went on, it became one of the most popular programs. The actor-turned-writer talked about a dream he had before deciding to pursue writing in an interview.

“But that wasn’t my path”: Taylor Sheridan on dreaming of doing movies with Martin Scorsese

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in June, it was noted that the actor-turned-writer Taylor Sheridan had created a TV show almost 12 years ago, about a man who owns a dynastic mega-ranch and struggles to keep it safe but makes it successful. It was not just a normal ranch, but the same ranch served as the basis for Yellowstone.

He said, “Life imitating art was never my intention. We haven’t killed anyone in weeks.” He further said that he had been involved with ranching his whole life and had owned a modest 1200-acre property. Mentioning further, he said,

“That was my dream and I already had it. It was a great escape from the fact I was a failing actor living in West Hollywood. The plan was always to become a big movie star, then move back to a ranch and just do movies with Martin Scorsese when I felt like it. But that wasn’t my path.”

Co-creator of Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan, calls himself ‘a fair actor’

The writer said that he was a fair actor but it was all he was ever going to be, adding that the industry is going to tell an individual what they are supposed to do if they actually listen, pointing out that he had been working as an actor for years but wasn’t going anywhere. But then he wrote the pilot of Mayor of Kingstown in 2011 and he got a major network to work with him.

The co-creator added that he knew exactly how to write the show himself, which is why he was reluctant to let others adapt his written show and demonstrated a willingness to walk away but refused to sell the script for other writers to work on it.

Taylor Sheridan originally wrote Yellowstone as a movie

During the interview, the actor-turned-writer shared that his hit and successful show was originally written as a movie but it ended up in the form of a series at HBO. Sheridan said that then-programming president Michael Lombardo was on board but the rest of t he team wasn’t.

Lombardo explained, “I thought Taylor was the real deal. In a world of people who pose, he was writing what he knew, and he cared desperately about the show. The idea of doing a modern-classic Western was a great idea — we were always doing urban shows, and it felt fresh.”

Sheridan always wanted Kevin Costner as his John Dutton, but the team wanted Robert Redford and told him that if he could get him on board they would green-light the pilot and, after spending a day with him at the Sundance, Redford agreed to play John Dutton on the show, but the network didn’t seem keen on making the show.

The vice president (name not mentioned) clarified that the show comes off as a step backward for their studios who describe themselves as trendsetters, adding that his personal opinion is that no one should be living out there in rural Montana.

Yellowstone was finally picked up by Paramount, where Sheridan wanted the executives that they would be spending a lot of money on production and would not have any creative control. The show went on to be one of the most-watched shows and depicts reality about the dying American way of life and a clash between traditions that respect the land and the intrusion of modernity.