Who would have thought that a guy who was once little more than a side character on Sons of Anarchy would go on to become one of the most prolific and successful TV writers of the streaming era? Taylor Sheridan is well and truly the king of Paramount Plus right now, with a sprawling cowboy kingdom and a bunch of crime-based thrillers in his portfolio.
His newest show, Landman, is back for Season 2, and after becoming Paramount’s most-watched series of all time, it’s safe to say this is a big deal. With that honour under his belt, plus the hugely popular Yellowstone franchise (and an executive producer credit on Lawmen: Bass Reeves, too), Sheridan has totally dominated the small screen for the past seven years.
But which Taylor Sheridan show is the best? Do the cowboys reign supreme, or are the oil kings coming for that crown? See which of Sheridan’s shows are worth your time with our ranking of them all. (Spoiler: they are all worth your time, actually!)
7. Tulsa King (2022-)
Listen, it’s always going to be fun to see Sylvester Stallone playing a mafia boss, so please don’t be fooled into thinking Tulsa King is a bad show just because it’s at the bottom of this list – something had to be, and it’s got tough competition.
If you like shows like The Sopranos and Peaky Blinders, you’ll be all in on this one, which has a wonderful blend of brutal violence and moments of levity that only Stallone can pull off. While it does lack the nuance and depth that some viewers might yearn for, the show still brims with a simple charm: big, brash, loud, and unabashedly macho, and we mean all of that in the most complimentary way possible. Tulsa King is a really easy watch, as long as you don’t mind a bit of violence and profanity.
6. 1923 (2022-)
As a Yellowstone prequel spin-off series, it was always going to be hard for 1923 to live up to the hype, and to be honest, the first season failed to hook me in. That was largely because the characters were scattered around and on their own little adventures. Thankfully, Season 2 brought everyone back together and stepped the violence and tension up a notch, leaving me wanting more of a show I was willing to take or leave when it first aired.
Like Tulsa King, you get some real star power with this one, in the form of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. 1923 tells us the backstory of the Dutton family and their iconic ranch; how they fought against villainous forces to protect what they built, and it develops into a truly thrilling, gritty family drama once Sheridan hits his stride. It reminds me a lot of Ozark – one of my favourite Netflix series of all time – with an array of nefarious bad guys and questionable heroes you can’t help but root for.
5. Mayor of Kingstown (2021-)
While Sheridan does have his critics, largely for his shortcomings as a writer (he’s often guilty of cheesy dialogue and convoluted storylines, which is all part of the fun), he does have an admirable tendency to tackle wider societal issues in his work. Mayor of Kingstown is a perfect example of this, with the US prison system put on the stand, as it were.
The Jeremy Renner-led series is brimming with themes of police corruption, political collusion, and criminal correction. It’s actually very similar thematically to Tulsa King, but while Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi is on the wrong side of the law, Renner’s Mike McLusky is the one pulling the strings in his world. Mayor of Kingstown is not in the same league as The Wire or Breaking Bad, but it’s definitely striving to appeal to the same audiences. Be warned, though, this Sheridan show is very bleak and violent, to the extent that even I would say it’s gratuitous at times.
4. Landman (2024-)
Clearly, Sheridan is doing something very right when it comes to Landman. Almost 15 million viewers in its first four weeks on Paramount Plus, eclipsing the massive audience Yellowstone already boasted. Once again, ideas of land ownership and capitalism are at the heart of the story for Landman – themes that obviously play on Sheridan’s mind a lot. This time, however, the concept of corporate greed really ramps up, leaving us with very few characters that are actually likeable.
That’s not necessarily a problem, especially when the characters are as fun as Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), a man who speaks his mind, gets things done, and fears no one. He’s not quite as cool as John Dutton, but he’s pretty close. If you’re into movies like There Will Be Blood, Killers of the Flower Moon, and No Country for Old Men, you’ll have a riot with Landman. Just beware: Sheridan’s penchant for poorly written female characters hits a new low here, with the two-dimensional Angela and Aynsley Norris being the main gripe for most viewers.
3. Special Ops: Lioness (2023-)
We are so used to seeing Sheridan set his shows on dusty plains or within urban communities that it was quite surprising when he scaled up his storytelling with Special Ops: Lioness. Zoe Saldana stars in this tale of terrorist organisations and Marine recruits, while A-list stars like Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman support from the wings, giving this show a genuine pedigree.
This is a rare example of Sheridan getting his female characters absolutely spot on, harking back to the brilliant work he did crafting the character of Kate for Denis Villeneuve’s epic movie, Sicario. While it does suffer from the usual Sheridan problems of clichéd writing and overcomplicated narratives, there is no doubt that Lioness is his most gripping and intense show to date. Fans of Jarhead, Black Hawk Down, and Zero Dark Thirty will absolutely love this.
2. Yellowstone (2018-2024)
This is where it all began for Sheridan’s small-screen kingdom, and honestly, in terms of long-term entertainment value, there are very few TV shows that can hold a candle to Yellowstone.
There’s enough of your stereotypical cowboy capers and rodeo fun here to satisfy ardent Western fans, but at the heart of this five-season-long soap opera is intense family drama and pantomime villains looking to destroy the Dutton family legacy. Think Game of Thrones and Succession, but with ranchers, and you’re on the right lines here.
Kevin Costner leads the show as patriarch John Dutton, and he’s just as cavalier and commanding as you’d expect. There’s incredible support in the rest of the cast, like Kelly Reilly as Costner’s daughter, Beth, and Cole Hauser as her husband, Rip Wheeler. A few work friends and I started watching Yellowstone out of curiosity, almost ironically, if anything. We expected to laugh about how silly and cheesy it was, and we ended up absolutely obsessed. It’s been a couple of years now, and we still talk about the show almost every day. It did make us laugh, but it also made us cry, filled us with excitement, and had us gripped until the bitter end.
1. 1883 (2021)
The 1923 prequel series might not quite have hit the mark for Yellowstone fans, but 1883, the first spinoff, is truly astounding. While the main show is, for want of a better word, a little bit trashy and simple, 1883 is packed with emotion, grit, and genuinely heavy moments that carry a lot of weight. It’s an unflinching and impassioned look at the history of the American West. You can feel how much Sheridan cares about the characters he’s crafted and the real-world issues they experience. From displaced communities to embracing different cultures, this is a story handled with a wonderful mix of delicacy and visceral brutality.
I have no hesitation in saying that Elsa Dutton (played by Isabel May) is the very best character Sheridan has ever created, and this show blows all his other small-screen work out of the water. While Yellowstone is great for anyone wanting to dabble in the cowboy kingdom for the long haul, 1883 is a phenomenal single-season experience. Sadly, it’ll leave you wanting more, but honestly, the ending is perfect as it is. Anyone who’s a fan of Western movies like Dances with Wolves, Hostiles, or 3:10 to Yuma will adore 1883.
