After finding success on Paramount with the Yellowstone franchise and other hit shows, creator Taylor Sheridan is making a move.
Sheridan, 55, has closed a film and TV deal with NBCUniversal, according to Puck, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline. The five-year overall deal for film, TV and streaming is set to begin January 1, 2029, after Sheridan’s TV deal with Paramount — which goes through 2028 — officially ends.
Sheridan’s collaborator and producing partner David Glasser and his 101 Studios has also signed a first-look film and TV deal with NBCUniversal, which is set to begin in early 2026 after obligations to Paramount are fulfilled.
Sheridan got his start as an actor before writing scripts for movies including Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River. His focus later shifted to the small screen, which paved the way for Yellowstone‘s success. The hit series aired from 2018 to 2024 as viewers tuned in to keep tabs on the fictional Dutton family.
The prolific producer didn’t stop there. He expanded his universe with spinoffs such as 1883 and 1923, as well as the upcoming series The Dutton Ranch, The Madison and Y: Marshals. Sheridan has also worked on original shows Landman, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness and Tulsa King.
Sheridan’s gritty storytelling attracted major A-list actors to star in his projects, from Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford to Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore. Many other celebs have expressed interest in working with Sheridan in the future, including Blue Bloods alum Tom Selleck.
“Because Paramount trusts me and gives me the time to go shoot 10 to 14 days for a television episode, we can treat it like a movie, and it looks like a movie,” Sheridan told Deadline in January 2022. “We can take the time to rehearse it and light it and build these set pieces. And if I call them and say, ‘I need two helicopters in one day,’ they just go, ‘Alright.’”
He added: “At the end of the day, to go to some of these locations where most people have never been, where you’re opening up a new world, and all of these places or characters in the story, to me, it’s fascinating.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount will retain the rights to Yellowstone and the other franchises Sheridan created under his deal with the company, so he is expected to create brand new IP for NBCUniversal.
Sheridan’s move comes after Paramount’s recent merger with Skydance. The change led to the exit of Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy, who worked closely with Sheridan.
Sheridan previously opened up about not wanting to “compromise” on his storytelling vision, telling THR in 2023, “I spent the first 37 years of my life compromising. When I quit acting, I decided that I am going to tell my stories my way, period. If you don’t want me to tell them, fine. Give them back and I’ll find someone who does — or I won’t, and then I’ll read them in some freaking dinner theater. But I won’t compromise. There is no compromising.”
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