WTF Is Taylor Sheridan Doing?!

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WTF Is Taylor Sheridan Doing?!

If you could interview any celebrity in the world, who would you choose? There's plenty of more reasonable answers that I could give you before what I'm about to say. I'd love to share whisky with Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski in Japan as they work through the next John Wick film. I'd kill to paraglide with Tom Cruise—which might just get us both killed. But since I started working at Esquire three years ago, I really only have one true white whale: Taylor Sheridan.

The TV creator behind the massive Yellowstone franchise dictates most of what I write about for Esquire. Not that it was ever my intention. I wasn't born with the yeehaw spirit—I'm from the town outside Philadelphia where M. Night Shyamalan filmed Signs—but Sheridan's shows became impossible to ignore. The 1923 season 2 finale, the Yellowstone season 5 finale, and the Landman premiere garnered over 14 million global viewers each. To put that number in context, Succession season 4 only averaged around 8.7 million viewers per episode.

Now, TV's golden goose is one of the most sought-after creators in Hollywood. Last week, he signed a reported $1 billion deal to leave Paramount for NBCUniversal. While his fleet of shows—including Landman, Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness, and four (!) upcoming Yellowstone spin-off series—continue to rake in the dough on Paramount+, Sheridan will spend the next four years developing entirely new series for NBC and Peacock.

If that's not enough, news broke on Thursday that Sheridan would write the highly-anticipated Call of Duty movie with director Peter Berg … at Paramount. While opinions of Sheridan's Paramount exit flooded the Internet, Sheridan somehow turned a billion-dollar deal to leave one network for another into a situation where he's still paid to work for both. Plus, he's tapped for a 2027 action film titled F.A.S.T. over at Warner Bros. Hell, he might even add on a Netflix series by the time you read this. (Look out, Ryan Murphy!)

Still, we haven't heard about any of these deals from Sheridan himself. The TV creator rarely sits down with the press to answer questions. Hence: why he's such a white whale. Sheridan's last proper interview was in 2023, when he spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how he was enacting his revenge after Hollywood spurned him years ago. Outside of a rambling, three-and-a-half hour podcast episode with Joe Rogan from last winter, Sheridan has yet to comment publicly on anything else. His feud with Kevin Costner that ended Yellowstone? Nothing. His decision to leave Paramount for NBCUniversal? Nada. Reports that David Zaslav gifted him an old pair of James Dean's cowboy boots in a failed attempt to win him over to Warner Bros.? Sadly, zip.

I mention Warner Bros., however, because the network behind The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Deadwood, and countless other TV shows that could easily rank in Top 10 of All-Time lists, is the current elephant in the room around all this Sheridan talk.

Taylor Sheridan will create four new 'Yellowstone' spin-offs next year.

Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler in Yellowstone / Paramount

Right now, everyone is trying to figure out why Sheridan would leave Paramount for Peacock. It's quite a lateral move, especially when Netflix and Warner Bros. are knocking on your door and gifting you rare movie memorabilia. Yet, the talk around Hollywood is that Warner Bros. is shockingly up for sale. This would take a whole other newsletter to explain, but Warner Bros. basically took on a massive amount of unknown debt when they merged with Discovery. That relationship is ending soon, as both companies expect to split once again. At the same time, Zaslav is reportedly fielding offers from Paramount, Comcast (which owns NBC), and Netflix about selling Warner Bros. and HBO entirely. Forgoing the pros and cons of such a sale for now, here's what that means for Sheridan.

When the TV creator signed on to produce TV and films for NBCUniversal, everyone immediately flocked their attention to the move's effect on the TV landscape. What happens to Yellowstone? What will he create for NBC? Will the shows air on Peacock? Instead, I had my eyes on the film side of the deal.

In that Hollywood Reporter profile from 2023, Sheridan revealed that he originally pitched Yellowstone to HBO before landing at Paramount. A nameless Warner Bros. executive reportedly turned him down, with Sheridan recalling him saying, "Look, it just feels so Middle America."

"'We're HBO, we're avant-garde, we're trendsetters,'" Sheridan recalls the HBO bigwhig telling him. "'This feels like a step backward. And frankly, I've got to be honest, I don't think anyone should be living out there [in rural Montana]. It should be a park or something.'"

Since then, Sheridan has been hellbent on proving to Hollywood that they made a mistake rejecting him. "I spent the first 37 years of my life compromising," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "When I quit acting, I decided that I am going to tell my stories my way, period. If you don't want me to tell them, fine. Give them back and I'll find someone who does… But I won't compromise."

Now, Sheridan is sitting in a situation where one of the companies he just signed with could own Warner Bros. in a couple years. It's kind of a genius play, if it works out. He could leap from Peacock or Paramount creator to an HBO showrunner and a film director with Oppenheimer-sized budgets. (Something tells me F.A.S.T. is just an appetizer for Warner Bros. to prove that he can handle a movie of that size). I'm not saying it will happen, but he's closer to making that dream a reality than he was just two weeks ago.

If Sheridan ever agrees to shoot some 6666 ranch water with me down at his Texas estate, I promise you I'll find out exactly how he plans to show Hollywood who's boss.

Taylor Sheridan

Mailbag!

To celebrate Halloween, we put together a list of our favorite horror comedies, including Beetlejuice, Young Frankenstein, Ghostbusters, and more. I've always had a soft spot for So I Married an Axe Murderer starring Mike Myers. (The actor, not the killer from Halloween). It's a real hidden gem about a man who convinces himself that his fiancée is an axe-wielding serial killer who murders her husband on their wedding night.

Do you have a favorite low-stakes horror film? Let me know by emailing me at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com.

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The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk

Speaking of horror movies for the whole family, Anthony Breznican wrote about how you should really see Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein in theaters—and on the largest screen possible. Read his review of the film here.

These are the best books of 2025. Whether you're looking for a compelling nonfiction mystery, a charming fantasy escape, or a suspenseful science fiction thriller, Adam Morgan jotted down his favorite reads of the year so far.

Cameron Crowe wrote a memoir. Senior Entertainment Director Andrea Cuttler talked to the Almost Famous writer and director about the twenty-fifth anniversary of the film, his new book, and writing for Rolling Stone as a teenager in the early 1970s. Read the interview here.

Happy Halloween from the Ghostbusters.

The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week

Winner: Kathyrn Bigelow

The House of Dynamite director responded to complaints from the Department of Defense about reported "inaccuracies" in her nuclear-missile thriller. Basically, the DOD stated that America's interceptors have a "100 percent accuracy rate." In response, Bigelow said that she felt she needed to "be more independent [from the Pentagon]" if they were to tell an accurate story about the efficacy of technology today.

Loser: Netflix

The streamer quietly released an entire movie about The Witcher starring Rocky IV's Dolph Lundgren, which seems integral to understanding what happens between the events of season 3 and season 4. Was Netflix planning to tell Witcher fans about this?

Winner: TikTok

Kim Kardashian believes the Moon Landing was a hoax. "They're gonna say I'm crazy no matter what," Kardashian said in a recent episode of The Kardashians. "But like, go to TikTok. See for yourself." Normally, I would classify this as Loser: Kim Kardashian, but I'll chalk this one up as a sad win for conspiracy TikTok.

Loser: Fubo

Sports fans almost received the perfect streaming service in 2024 when Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. announced a joint-venture called Venu Sports. However, Fubo sued the proposed plan and branded it as an antitrust-breaking sports monopoly. So, Disney bought a controlling 70 percent stake in Fubo last week. I guess that's what happens when you cross Disney.

Winner: Neve Campbell

The Scream actress won over a wave of fan support in 2022 after she revealed that she wouldn't appear in Scream 6 because she felt "undervalued" by the franchise. So, audiences cheered when Paramount seemingly changed their tune enough for Campbell to return for Scream 7 next year. The new trailer is an absolute blast.