At this point in Taylor Sheridan’s career, it’d be impossible for him not to delegate.
It’s no secret that the Yellowstone creator is one of the most sought after minds in Hollywood. Because it seems as though everything he touches turns to gold (or at least brings in massive ratings), there’s not an entertainment executive out there who doesn’t want a cut of the Taylor Sheridan pie. That obviously gets a lot of his projects green lit, which in turns makes him a very busy person.
So busy, in fact, that Sheridan has to trust others to carry on his vision for certain projects that have his name on it.
One TV show that is nearing its premiere is the Yellowstone spinoff Marshals, which will soon air on CBS and continue the story of Kayce Dutton. Obviously, anyone who watched the flagship series is going to tune in to see what’s going on with Luke Grimes’ character. But when they do… they might notice that it feels a bit different than Yellowstone.
Why? Because Taylor Sheridan can’t hunker down on just one show anymore. He simply doesn’t have the time. Think of all the other series he’s got going right now… Landman, Special Ops: Lioness, The Madison, Dutton Ranch, Mayor of Kingstown. Sheridan is a prolific writer, but he can’t be in more than one place at once. As the universe of Taylor Sheridan shows has grown, he’s had no other choice but to be less and less involved in each one.
Ali Larter confirmed that when speaking about Landman recently, and Marshals showrunner and executive producer Spencer Hudnut told the Television Critics Association much of the same.
The Kayce Dutton spinoff is actually the first Yellowstone show that Sheridan hasn’t written himself. Hudnut was approached to create the spinoff by CBS, and was then entrusted to continue the story that included established Yellowstone character by Sheridan and David Glasser (Sheridan’s right-hand producing man). All three are credited as creators of the new show.
But Hudnut made it clear that Taylor Sheridan is much too busy to be involved with Marshals on a day-to-day basis:
“I don’t think I’d be sitting here if he had to be involved in a day-to-day way. That was never the setup. But he’s certainly there for us when we need him… Taylor’s fingerprints are obviously all over this show. He created these great characters. He created this great universe.
He was very generous to me in terms of his time and helping shape this show. He’s been incredibly gracious throughout. Whenever we hit a problem, he’d be there to help solve it. But you know, his influence is in every sort of aspect of this show.”
And I’m sure Taylor Sheridan would be 100% involved in each and every one of his shows if he could… but it’s a logistical problem more than anything else. There’s countless shows on television right now that Sheridan is at least a producer on… and there’s only one Taylor Sheridan.
So that’s why the Yellowstone creator found someone he could trust in Spencer Hudnut (who has previously worked on the popular CBS show Seal Team), helped him get it off the ground, and then left Hudnut to handle things on his own. The showrunner feels like they’ve got something really special in store for viewers who loved Yellowstone:
“Actually, when I was approached, it was specifically for CBS to try to bring the ‘Yellowstone’ show to network television, and so that was the aim. And trying to do it in a non-traditional network way has been our goal, and hopefully, we executed that.”
CBS has confirmed that the spinoff sequel will air in the spring, and will fall into the coveted 8 E.S.T time slot. The series premiere of Marshals will go out to all Yellowstone fans on Sunday, March 1 on CBS. New episodes of the show will air in same time slot all the way through May – assuming no interruptions or mid-season breaks – until the season finale.
You can view the trailer for Marshals (which all but confirms Monica Dutton has passed away) below:
