Taylor Sheridan’s $350M Yellowstone Series Is Still the Best in Franchise History

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Taylor Sheridan has become the most powerful showrunner in Hollywood, and he has cleverly reintroduced classical narrative techniques into modern settings. While there isn’t a single Sheridan project that isn’t epic in scope, they adhere to a formal style of week-to-week progression that is reminiscent of both legacy television and American literature. The biggest issue that has arisen is when the stars of his respective shows begin to take ownership of them, resulting in uneven pacing without any clear ending point in mind. It’s thanks to intentional precision that 1923 is the perfect prequel to Yellowstone because it doesn’t necessitate knowledge of the original series. While Sheridan is working to advance the insights he’s made about the Dutton family legacy, 1923 is a bold historical epic that explores a unique era in American history.

Although Sheridan explored the formation of the Dutton ranch in the underrated miniseries 1883, 1923 is set during one of the most challenging times in the family’s history. While the patriarch Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) and his wife Cara (Helen Mirren) are perceived as all-powerful within their Montana community, the threats of rival landowners and criminal gangs grow more frightening during a fractured era in American history, in which Prohibition, the Stock Market Crash, and post-war disenfranchisement made the country more divided. Although the story is anchored in Montana, it also spans the globe to show that Jacob’s nephew, Spencer (Brandon Sklenar), has become a big-game hunter in Africa and embarks on a sweeping romance with a young British woman named Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer). After years attempting to “modernize” the Western genre, Sheridan is honestly best suited to make an old-fashioned, generational epic.

‘1923’ Is Taylor Sheridan’s Best Historical Show

An issue that Sheridan has run into with shows like Yellowstone and Landman is that he has attempted to incorporate contemporary politics and controversial topics, which always end up feeling reactionary because of how quickly the news cycle evolves. In 1923, Sheridan developed insights into what a family like the Duttons would face during a period of national transformation. Despite the fact that the country has grown more nationalized due to the economic boom following World War I, those with wealth and power have greater influence and serve as even more powerful barons than those associated with the government. Sheridan has never written a villain better than Donald Whitfield, the powerful business tycoon played by Timothy Dalton; casting a former James Bond actor to play a privileged, petty charlatan who hides his insidious ways behind a charismatic front was yet another example of why Sheridan is so good at giving legacy stars meaty late-career roles.

1923 is a standout among Sheridan’s shows because it truly embraces its ensemble cast and allows characters like Jack (Darren Mann) and Liz (Michelle Randolph) to expand their roles in the second season. Yellowstone quickly fell apart after the absence of Kevin Costner, and Sylvester Stallone has exerted so much control over Tulsa King that it no longer feels creatively pure. Comparatively, Ford and Mirren (reuniting for the first time since The Mosquito Coast) are gracious as co-stars and realistically act as the leaders of the family. The fact that the Duttons are so often scattered and isolated in 1923 makes it all the more powerful when they come together, as few writers know how to depict familial loyalty in the same way that Sheridan does.

‘1923’ Has a Complete and Satisfying Story

1923 has a unique structure because the show had the intention of running for two seasons with no hints of where a Season 3 might go. While it builds off the momentum of 1883 and establishes story threads that will inevitably be addressed in Dutton Ranch, 1923 wraps up the story of Jacob, Cara, Spencer, Alex, and others in a way that completes their character arcs. The story of 1923 was too grandiose in scope to be contained to just one season, especially since Jacob and Alex’s painful journey to America needed the time to feel truly satisfying. However, there isn’t any excess material in 1923 that drags down the pacing; Sheridan isn’t trying to make an all-consuming depiction of everything that happened in this era of history, but specifically show one family’s plight.

Sheridan has a knack for writing sharp, snappy dialogue with a dark sense of humor, but 1923 is easily the most emotionally charged of his shows. The violence in 1923 isn’t just used for shock value, as it is integral to show the suffering faced by the characters and the realities of their situation. Sheridan also developed what might be his single most effective depiction of romance; not only does the “love at first sight” between Spencer and Alex feel completely pure, but it's quite moving to see how the marriage between Jacob and Cara has become a solid foundation for a family that audiences know will expand many generations into the future. 1923 is an epic, a Western adventure, a sweeping romance, and a family drama all in one, and it remains a perfect showcase for why Sheridan is such an in-demand writer.