Beyond ‘Yellowstone’, All Taylor Sheridan-Written Movies, Ranked
Taylor Sheridan has become one of Hollywood’s most prolific modern writers thanks to a string of great successes like Yellowstone (2018). Getting his start as an actor, Sheridan eventually moved to writing and proved to have a terrific sense of character and tension. Sheridan’s works are often defined by their morally tricky characters and tense takes on Americana, whether that be subversive riffs on classic genres or morally thorny approaches to typically black and white narratives.
While Sheridan has found a home in the world of TV thanks to the sprawling success of Yellowstone, he remains one of the more exciting cinematic screenwriters for the modern thriller genre. Right now, there are two Sheridan scripts in the works—next year's F.A.S.T. and an adaptation of the Call of Duty video game series. Until then, though, this is a full breakdown and ranking of the movies that Taylor Sheridan has written. While fans of Sheridan can also turn to his works in shows like Mayor of Kingstown (2021) or Tulsa King (2022), here are the six films that Sheridan has written, ranked by just how good they are, and available to watch on Netflix, Prime Video, and more.
The least memorable of Taylor Sheridan's scripts, Without Remorse is still a decent thriller that just can't quite match the heights of the other movies written by Sheridan. Based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name, Without Remorse stars Michael B. Jordan as John Kelly, one in a long line of Clancy characters who have come to the big screen over the years. Jordan is as fantastic as ever, although he's better in films like Sinners (2025) which gave him a better space to utilize all his talents as an actor.
The movie works with pure spectacle, but the straightforward plot is predictable and trope-heavy. This probably has something to do with the film being in development hell for over twenty years, with Sheridan brought in to rewrite an established script from the ‘90s. It shows that while Sheridan's talents give the film some personality (and Jordan is able to take the material and make it work better than most could), those predictable elements make it less engaging than Sheridan's other, more morally complex movies. Not actively bad, Without Remorse is simply forgettable, which is why it’s last on this list.
To date the only sequel written by Sheridan, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, can’t keep pace with the one that came before it. An action-driven "cops and robbers" movie than the more interesting original, Sheridan's script about a human trafficking investigation intersecting with efforts to turn the cartels against one another finds plenty of room for bombastic shoot-outs.
Louder and dumber than the previous movie, there are enough strong technical bits of movie magic to keep the film compelling. If you enjoy the pure spectacle of something like Jack Reacher (2012), this is a good pick for you. However, the writing isn't as clever or compelling as many of Sheridan's other movies, which is why it falls into the number 5 slot on this list.
Those Who Wish Me Dead is a throwback to an older era of action thrillers, which is both a good and a bad thing. The cast is the highlight of the film, with Angelina Jolie adjusting well to the massive action scenes that follows her smokejumper's efforts to protect a young boy from assassins during a massive forest fire.
Sheridan's usual engaging moral complexity isn't really present here, which undercuts the film and leaves it little worse than many of Sheridan's other movies. However, that's not to say it's a bad film. If you love a certain breed of thriller from the ‘90s and early 2000s like Man of Fire (2004), you'll probably enjoy this film a lot. It's just, as with the other movies ranked lower on this list, it’s missing that complexity of character that makes for Sheridan's better works.
Only the second film Taylor Sheridan directed, Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen's neo-western murder mystery Wind River, is exactly the kind of film that Taylor Sheridan thrives on. Set in the frigid Wyoming winter, Renner and Olsen play government agents sent to investigate the discovery of a young woman's body in the snow.
The noir/western vibes are great, akin to the way something like True Detective (2014) or Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) reflects the genres without falling to archetypes. This movie's underlying morals make it less compelling than the more subversive two movies in the top slots above it, but fans of a good murder mystery will appreciate Sheridan's top-notch script exploring some very dark subject matter. Not for the faint of heart, Wind River is a harrowing but effective murder mystery that is very good, but not as great as Sheridan’s other two feature-length screenplays.
The script that cemented Taylor Sheridan as a major name in the film and television industry, the morally thorny Sicario is one of the best things he's been involved in. Depicting the battle between FBI agents and members of a Mexican drug cartel, the intensity of Sicario is only strengthened by a great sense of character and underlying criticism of both sides of the conflict. The film benefits from Sheridan's talents as a writer, which puts emphasis on the faults and flaws of normally "heroic" characters.
A terrific drama that is bolstered by Denis Villeneuve's direction, Sicario is one of the rare "cop vs. criminal" thrillers that can match the scope and intensity of classics like The Untouchables. This is a great movie that is only in the second spot because the tighter focus and more emotionally resonant storytelling of Hell or High Water make for a more compelling watch—but make no mistake, Sicario is one of the best crime thrillers of the last twenty-five years.
Hell or High Water is the best thing Taylor Sheridan has written to date, a nearly perfect modern western that honors the timeless spirit of the genre while remaining deeply rooted in the present era. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are terrific as a pair of desperate brothers looking to make money by any means necessary, including robbing local banks to pay for their family home.
With a critical eye pointed towards the housing market and banking malfeasance, Sheridan delivers on a screenplay where the criminals are sympathetic but by no means heroic. Coupled with a terrific supporting turn from Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water does for the western what Inside Man does for heist films, delivering a taut and effective take on the genre that benefits from great character writing and a richly complex thematic core.
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