Five Key Taylor Sheridan Shows Face Uncertainty At Paramount Amid $1 Billion Move To NBCUniversal
Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance sounded like the most perfect marriage in Hollywood in a long time, as Taylor Sheridan’s excellent creative track record found almost unlimited funding in David Ellison’s deep pockets. Shockingly, it has heralded the end of an era as Hollywood’s biggest TV deal is set to end when Sheridan leaves Paramount at the end of his current contract in 2028.
Fans of Sheridan’s hit shows also have a lot more to be worried about, as the latest reports point at a major fallout between Sheridan and the new management that has put the fates of multiple announced Yellowstone spinoffs and other of his shows in limbo.
Major changes were expected at Paramount Pictures after the merger with David Ellison’s Skydance in August 2025. However, news of Sheridan’s planned exit still came as a shock, especially after David Ellisson himself publicly praised the Yellowstone writer and committed to keeping him at the company.
According to reports, despite initial efforts to woo Sheridan, Ellison’s team had a clash of heads with the creator. From planning the cancellation of one of his signature shows over budget concerns to outrightly removing another one from the calendar, Paramount Skydance started a thorough clamp-down on the Sheridan-verse, starting with the rejection of his script for a Capture the Flag feature film.
Just three months into the new regime, and with up to 14 projects still in the pipeline, it has been confirmed that the Yellowstone creator has agreed to a new TV deal with NBCUniversal, set to commence in January 2029. Sheridan, therefore, has just over 36 months to wrap his vision of every show in the Sheridan-verse at Paramount, which is an uphill task considering the large number of shows he has put in the works over the years.
While details are still scanty, the first Taylor Sheridan show on the chopping block seems to be The Correspondent, a war drama that was slated for 2027, which the new management has chopped off the calendar, according to Deadline.
The lucrative Yellowstone universe isn’t free from trouble either, since the second on the chopping block is most likely 6666 — the Yellowstone sequel that has been in development hell since its announcement in 2022. It was set to continue Jefferson White’s story from the flagship series, with a snippet of the ranch appearing in the final episode of Yellowstone. Sheridan now owns the real-life Four Sixes Ranch, where the show was set to take place, making its continuity without his input almost impossible.
In a 2023 interview with THR, he said the show had to be delayed as he worked around the logistics of accommodating its filming alongside the ranch’s day-to-day running. With no script, cast, or release date as of yet, if a solution isn’t found in the next three years, the show’s fate seems sealed since both Sheridan and 101 Studios, which does most of the filming for his shows, are set to make the move to NBCUniversal.
The only incomplete Yellowstone prequel, 1944, is also in limbo as no progress has been made on its production since it was announced. This one has no major hurdles, though, since Sheridan has no personal attachment besides the writing, which could always be done by someone else.
Taylor Sheridan’s strict hands-on policy with all his shows means that he develops a strong relationship with his cast and often chooses the star before penning the script. He has managed to attract some of Hollywood’s biggest stars to his projects, including Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly, Sylvester Stallone, Helen Mirren, and Henry Ford, a feat the new management might struggle to accomplish without him. It is therefore unclear if some of the surviving characters from 1923, including Brandon Sklenar, will return for 1944.
He also shared a close relationship with Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly, who are the leads of the upcoming Yellowstone spinoff with the working title of Dutton Ranch. Whether his exit affects the show’s continuity remains to be seen after the show’s premiere in 2026, although the first season, which is already in production, is unlikely to be affected. The same goes for the first seasons of Y-Marshals and The Madison, the two other Yellowstone spinoffs in production.
Outside Yellowstone-verse, Lioness, the Taylor Sheridan spy thriller starring Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, is also in danger of a scheduling crisis despite being renewed for a third season in August 2025.
The new Paramount Pictures management struck a deal for a new Nicole Kidman-led show behind Sheridan’s back despite the renewal, resulting in another Kevin-Costner-style scheduling conflict that could see the third season pushed back, which could never be good news for the show, especially with Sheridan’s tight schedule.
Sheridan has written all 16 episodes of the show’s first two seasons, which explains his disappointment with being sidelined. There has been no official confirmation of the show being in danger of delay, though. His departure is also likely to affect the continuity of his new hit show, Landman, which has been widely seen as the successor to Yellowstone.
It is currently in its second season and was highly anticipated to get a third season, especially after the first season became an instant hit on Paramount+. Sheridan has full creative control of the show, having secured the rights to the original podcast, Boomtown, on which the show is based, before writing a script specifically for Billy Bob Thornton.
Having won Thornton’s trust and written all of the show’s 20 episodes, its future without Sheridan looks bleak. The show’s only hope of continuity is if it gets a fast-tracked renewal that puts it on the calendar before Sheridan’s December 2028 exit.
Sheridan had largely ceded creative control of Tulsa King, the Sylvester Stallone-led mafia drama, to Terrence Winter. The show is currently in its third season and is unlikely to be affected by Sheridan’s exit. Its New Orleans-set spinoff, NOLA King, set to feature Samuel L. Jackson in the lead role, will likely go ahead without a hitch, as well, since the first season is likely to be finished before Sheridan’s exit.
The same goes for Mayor of Kingstown, currently in its fourth season, for which Sheridan’s last hands-on involvement was writing the first episode of Season 2.
The prolific writer played a big role in turning Paramount into a major competitor in the TV and streaming industry. Starting with Yellowstone in 2018, the Sheridan-verse has had an unprecedented impact on the golden age of TV.
At its peak, the western hit a record 16 million live viewers on Paramount and its sister networks, breaking a cable TV record set by The Walking Dead back in 2017. Paramount+; therefore, it owes a large portion of its 79 million paid subscriber base to Sheridan’s creative genius.
Sheridan’s exit doesn’t exactly mean the death of his popular franchises at Paramount, though, since the network retains ownership of all the IPs. Yellowstone, Landman, Tulsa King, Lawmen, and any other shows Sheridan writes before his exit will therefore continue under the new management.
According to reports, some higher-ups at the company feel they have parted ways with Sheridan at his peak, retaining his most valuable creations, although that remains to be seen when Sheridan starts a new line of projects at NBCUniversal.
