Taylor Sheridan Says His ‘Yellowstone’ Franchise Is “Nonsensical”: “I’m Just Not That F—king Special”

The Kevin Costner-led neo-Western hit show Yellowstone was a pretty controversial matter when its final season was released last year, but Taylor Sheridan’s massive franchise is still the one other genre lovers can look up to.

Ever since Yellowstone’s first instalment arrived on streaming back in 2018, the show spawned two extremely successful spinoff series, with several more currently being in production.

However, even with all that acclaim and numerous raving reviews from viewers that just can’t get enough of the Dutton family’s history, Yellowstone has also been a target for those slamming Sheridan for plot inconsistencies and doubtful character development.

Ironically, Sheridan knows about this better than anyone else.

Taylor Sheridan Says His ‘Yellowstone’ Franchise Is “Not Trying to” Make Some Sense

While some audience members might have made an attempt to look for hidden meanings in Yellowstone and its spinoff shows, for Sheridan the entire franchise is nothing more than a way to track down one of typical Western families’ history and its own hardships.

“With Yellowstone, which is nonsensical — there's a great writer named Gretel Ehrlich, who calls it my horse opera because it makes no sense and it's not trying to. And yet it's a window into a world. There's a very sort of loving nature with the camera that attempts to sell this place as the idyllic location to raise a family. [...] What you did, with all these people moving west in that era, they're seeing this land largely for the first time, and you manage to capture it in a way. I don't want to get too techy, but through your lens choices you make it look like an entirely different planet,” the director revealed in a recent interview with Gold Derby.

Taylor Sheridan Knew ‘Yellowstone’ Would Be a Hit For At Least One Reason

Despite the show’s events unfolding in modern times, Yellowstone still perfectly captures the essence of the classic Western genre with all old-fashioned elements possible, and this was what convinced Taylor Sheridan that the series would quickly become a massive hit.

“I just knew it. I knew there was such a thirst, that a Western done well is a universally loved genre. It captures everything American, this sense of freedom and vastness and independence. And there's a romance to it,” Sheridan added.

He also reflected on the movies blending the Western elements with other genres, saying that these to him are just “laughably bad”.

“I remember there was an article written about the Western genre is dead, and it came out right after the movie Space Cowboys came out. And I remember saying, "No, the Western genre is not dead, but the sh-tty Western genre where you try to merge it with f--king aliens is dead. That's dead, and there's no reason to ever revive that." I just don't think I'm that unique. If something's interesting to me, it's probably going to be interesting to a lot of other people. I'm just not that f--king special”, the writer-director stated.

What’s Next for Sheridan’s ‘Yellowstone’ Franchise?

With 1923 wrapping just a couple of months ago, Sheridan is about to expand the Yellowstone universe with several more spinoff series.

So far, it’s believed that a show titled The Madison starring Michelle Pfeiffer will be the first to arrive and get a release sometime later this year.