Taylor Sheridan on the ‘Yellowstone’ Spin-Off

He also talked about the situation with current ‘Yellowstone’ star Kevin Costner and the future of other prequels.

Kevin Costner as John Dutton III, Kelly Reilly as Bethany "Beth" Dutton, and Wes Bentley as Jamie Dutton in Paramount Network's 'Yellowstone' season 5.

(L to R) Kevin Costner as John Dutton III, Kelly Reilly as Bethany "Beth" Dutton, and Wes Bentley as Jamie Dutton in Paramount Network's 'Yellowstone' season 5. Credit: Paramount Network.

Taylor Sheridan just keeps on expanding the ‘Yellowstone’ TV universe while also developing other series.

And now he’s been talking to The Hollywood Reporter about his plans for more from the main franchise. ‘Yellowstone’, which stars Kevin Costner as the powerful, gruff patriarch of a wealthy ranching family in modern-day Montana. It has since spawned prequels such as ‘1883’ and ‘1923’ and has scope for other shows.

One big one is a modern-day sequel series called ‘6666’, about the Four Sixes ranch in Texas (a real-life property as opposed to the fictional Dutton property from the series, but also featured in the show). The new show is likely to feature a mostly new cast, led by Matthew McConaughey, who is in negotiations.

The ‘Yellowstone’ spin-off

Matthew McConaughey in director Yann Demange's 'White Boy Rick.'

While it’s still at a relatively early stage, the spin-off is something that Sheridan has been discussing with McConaughey for a while.

Here’s Sheridan on the situation:

“We had a few conversations over the years, and spitballed a few ideas. Then he started watching ‘Yellowstone’ and responded to it. He was like, ‘I want to do that.’ And by ‘that’ he meant diving into a raw world clashing up against the modern world. And then I said, ‘Buddy, that we can do.’”

A future without Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner as John Dutton III in Paramount Network's 'Yellowstone' season 5. Credit: Paramount Network.

And a spin-off will come in handy, since Sheridan is in the middle of wrapping up the flagship series, partly because star Kevin Costner is a busy director in his own right.

Costner has reportedly been angling to spend less and less time working on the series, since he’s been a little busy of late. He’s leaving to focus on his own Western epic, a four-movie saga titled ‘Horizon’ that he’s co-writing, directing and starring in. The actor had been trying to get ‘Horizon' made for 35 years and is expected to wrap the second film this week and has said the first installment might premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Sheridan had this to say about the Costner situation:

“My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct. He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with ‘Yellowstone’. I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward his preferred exit date,’ which we did. My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered. His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful, and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone. But once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting. He took a lot of this on the chin, and I don’t know that anyone deserves it.”