Taylor Sheridan's TV Career Started On Walker, Texas Ranger: From Bit-Part to Neo-Western Dominance

Taylor Sheridan is best known for his seminal neo-Western TV series Yellowstone, which ushered a new era of small-screen dramas set out West. Yet, Sheridan had already been working in television for 23 years when his flagship show debuted onscreen in 2018. His first gig was a pioneering neo-Western series that effectively originated this contemporary TV subgenre.

Today, most people think of Taylor Sheridan as a Western TV show creator, writer and producer, who occasionally acts in his own projects. But he started out as an actor, and in 1995 appeared onscreen for the first time in the series that put contemporary TV Westerns on the map.

While Walker, Texas Ranger isn’t generally considered one of the best neo-Western TV shows, its importance as a forerunner to the likes of Yellowstone, as well as Sheridan’s latest small-screen success Landman, shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s fitting that the creator behind the majority of modern-day Westerns on television today got his initial break on the show.

Taylor Sheridan’s TV Debut Was A Role In Walker, Texas Ranger

Although Walker, Texas Ranger is primarily the place to see some of Chuck Norris’ best fight scenes, it’s also the origin of Taylor Sheridan’s television career. In the show’s season 3 double-episode “War Zone”, Sheridan features as a speeding drag racer named Vernon, whom Norris’ title character chases down.

This bit-part role was the first in a series of single-episode appearances which constituted the early years of Sheridan’s screen career. Notably, Walker, Texas Ranger clearly served as inspiration for the plot of his 2016 movie Hell or High Water, too. The movie tells the story of two no-nonsense Texas Rangers pursuing the perpetrators of a bank robbery.

Walker, Texas Ranger Was The First True Neo-Western TV Show

Back in the early 1990s, there were no TV shows portraying Western lawmen living in the modern day. We were decades away from the likes of Justified, Longmire, and Fargo. Although Walker, Texas Ranger ultimately can’t compare with the quality of these 21st century series, it was a game-changer for TV Westerns when it arrived onscreen.

Like Lonesome Dove’s Gus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call before him, Cordell Walker is a gunslinging officer of the Texan special investigative law-enforcement division. But like Paladin, the enigmatic protagonist of the classic Western TV show Have Gun – Will Travel, Walker is also a skilled martial artist capable of defeating virtually anyone in hand-to-hand combat.

Walker is the most iconic role Chuck Norris has ever played. He’s even inspired a reboot series, featuring Jared Padalecki in place of Norris. No one plays Cordell Walker quite like Chuck, though. What’s more, Norris’ portrayal of Walker was only the second time in TV history that a Western law enforcer had been placed in a contemporary setting.

The first, Cade's County, only lasted a single season in the early 1970s. It’s a forgotten gem that deserves more attention, particularly for its progressive depiction of tribal societies in modern America. However, 55 years on, this show is now a period piece, whereas Walker, Texas Ranger is the first truly modern TV Western.

Taylor Sheridan Now Completely Dominates Neo-Western Television

Ironically, having started out on the first truly neo-Western show in TV history, Taylor Sheridan has come to dominate the subgenre himself. Although the Western genre’s TV revival predates Sheridan, there’s no denying that he’s effectively taken it over during the past decade.

Sheridan’s ever-expanding Yellowstone franchise and his hugely popular series Landman are the biggest Western shows in town. His complete domination of the TV genre is a far cry from his humble bit-part beginnings on Walker, Texas Ranger.