Entertainment
All 11 Taylor Sheridan Shows, Ranked by Action
There’s no stopping the Taylor Sheridan universe. The cowboy connoisseur has a knack for television, looping audiences in with contemporary stories of the American Wild West, where real business is often conducted in plain sight — but under a veil of discretion. Whether it’s the past or present, the way of the ranch is a timeless culture.
In recent years, Sheridan has expanded beyond his Yellowstone roster, exploring other genres outside the traditional cowboy story. While some of his shows really get into the action and intensity, others place greater emphasis on character and storytelling depth. Without further ado, here are all the Taylor Sheridan shows, ranked by action. Note: we opted not to include The Road since it’s a reality competition show; the most action happening on it is singing.
11
‘The Madison’ (2026–Present)
It’s never a nice feeling to be an outsider in your own family. The Madison follows the Clyburn family, who move from New York City to Montana’s Madison River Valley after a tragic plane crash takes the lives of Stacy’s husband and his brother. Staying at a remote ranch near Bozeman, Stacy (Michelle Pfeiffer) struggles to cope with her loss, all while the world refuses to pause for her.
Loyal Yellowstone fans might be in for a surprise with The Madison. Instead of the usual action-driven plot, much of the slow-burning conflict comes from getting over a personal tragedy. Grief can be difficult when everyone’s hurting, especially when they’re not on the same page. It might not be a cowboy’s cup of tea, but for those who enjoy bittersweet countryside sentimentality, The Madison is the right show.
10
‘Landman’ (2024–Present)
There’s a reason why oil prices keep rising, and it often comes at a human cost. Landman is set in the oilfields of West Texas, where roughnecks and billionaires fight to get their share of the booming industry. At the center is Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), a strict M-Tex executive caught between corporate power players in skyscrapers and the riggers who risk their lives on the oil fields every day.
Landman only turns to violence when necessary, usually to deal with outlaws. Although the action intensifies when the drug cartel is involved, it only happens later in the series. Most of the story is corporate-driven, with M-Tex facing a financial crisis after a destroyed offshore rig. Instead of physical fistfights, much of the battle happens in boardrooms — think negotiations, backstabbing, and scapegoating.
9
‘1883’ (2021–2022)
Hailed as the origin story of Yellowstone, 1883 may not feature the same confrontational action as Sheridan’s more contemporary works. Aside from the occasional bandit attack, the series is more focused on the Dutton ancestors’ fight for survival as they settle in what would eventually become Yellowstone. It is a family journey, only one filled with danger at every turn.
With only horses and caravans to carry them across the frontier, 1883 delivers a gritty and grounded take on the American Wild West, particularly the brutal realities of surviving the Oregon Trail before finally settling for Montana. Human threats are only part of the struggle. Nature itself becomes the main enemy, alongside disease, exhaustion, and sudden loss. While 1883 may not rely on nonstop deadly action, it remains heartbreaking nonetheless.
8
‘1923’ (2022–2025)
While Yellowstone deals with land disputes involving the rich and powerful, and 1883 is about the Duttons settling their roots, 1923 is a historical epic about survival, colonialism, and generational trauma. Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren), now in their elder years, leave much of the fighting to the ranch hands as they struggle to keep their land intact within their limited capacity.
But 1923 promises far more brutal action on the other side of the world: Africa. The wildlife in Kenya is far deadlier than anything in Montana, and Spencer constantly finds himself fending off raging elephants, leopards, and lions. Fighting humans is difficult enough, but animals do not care about morality or mercy — to them, you are just flesh waiting to be consumed.
7
‘Dutton Ranch’ (2026–Present)
Picking up right after the Yellowstone finale, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Dutton (Cole Hauser) move to South Texas in the aftermath of a wildfire engulfing the Montana wildlife. Together with their adopted son, Carter (Finn Little), the family starts anew by purchasing a new ranch. However, not everyone is happy with the new competition, especially the highly pragmatic 10 Petal Ranch owner, Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening).
Considering that the two are outsiders, the much calmer Beth and Rip conduct business as civilly as possible. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still as strict and stern as ever. Given that it’s still early in the show at the time of writing, the action hasn’t fully ramped up yet. Still, with characters like Beulah’s wildcard son and Carter, who isn’t afraid to tackle an abusive man, Dutton Ranch knows exactly when to be soft and when to turn violent.
6
‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ (2023)
Based on the real-life lawman who reportedly made more than 3,000 arrests, Lawmen: Bass Reeves follows the near-mythic figure as he becomes one of the first Black deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River. The series plays out as both a historical recount and a character study, tracing Reeves from his beginnings in slavery to his rise as a feared and respected lawman on the frontier.
Much of Reeves’ work involves lengthy investigations, tracking fugitives across dangerous territory. However, the series wastes no time reminding viewers that Reeves is an expert marksman capable of turning a standoff violent in seconds. Shootouts, ambushes, fistfights, and tense manhunts all become part of the job, and when the law doesn’t side with men like Reeves, things can get ugly once in a while.
5
‘Marshals’ (2026–Present)
When you put a rancher like Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) back into the field, things can get messy. A former U.S. Navy SEAL, Kayce goes back to his roots in Marshals following the death of his wife. To cope with his grief, he took the opportunity to serve as a U.S. Marshal. Unlike Yellowstone, where Kayce follows an unspoken code within the ranch and his family, he is now completely on his own as he is thrown into the deep end of protecting Montana.
Marshals wastes no time throwing Kayce into dangerous operations, including investigating a possible terror attack on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. Unlike in Yellowstone, where he was often pushed around by his family, Kayce’s moral code is now the law. Although not quite as abrasive as what he’s accustomed to during the Yellowstone days, Marshals promises a generous amount of shootouts, horse chases, and explosions.
4
‘Tulsa King’ (2022–Present)
Tulsa King might start off with a classic New York Mafia premise, but for a gangster crime drama, it is surprisingly more on the lighthearted side. After being imprisoned for 25 years, Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) expects to be treated like a hero for never snitching on his bosses all those years. Instead, he gets exiled to the middle-of-nowhere Tulsa, Oklahoma, forced to build his own business from scratch.
Anyone familiar with the mob genre knows how specific those action scenes usually are: slick, claustrophobic, and more interested in prolonging pain before finally killing somebody. But much of Tulsa King also revolves around Dwight building a crew of misfits who hilariously do not always get along. Still, when they lock in together, they pull off lively, tightly choreographed fights full of grappling, shootouts, and perfectly timed takedowns.
3
‘Yellowstone’ (2018–2024)
Everyone — literally everyone — is beating the living lights out of each other in Yellowstone. Following John Dutton III (Kevin Costner) and his exceptionally different adult children, the series makes one thing painfully clear: everybody is capable of physically fending for themselves, whether they are ranchers working the land or corporate players fighting from behind office desks. Above all else, their main priority is protecting the ranch from vulture enterprises and corporations trying to seize it for themselves.
On their best days, they get into fistfights outside the family home or deliver casual beatings to remind enemies who is in charge. At their worst, rival gangs send men to literally tear through their offices, leaving behind bloody trails of bodies. It does not matter whether it happens in a store in broad daylight or a bar in the dead of night — one wrong move, and you are gone.
2
‘Mayor of Kingstown’ (2021–Present)
Mike McClusky (Jeremy Renner) is not someone to be messed with in Mayor of Kingstown. Unlike Sheridan’s usual lineup of cowboys and countryside dramas, the crime thriller follows Mike as he becomes the unofficial “mayor” — or rather, the fixer — of the fictional Kingstown, a place that feels less like a home and more like a company town built on incarceration.
A former inmate himself, Mike knows how to keep the criminal underworld from spiraling out of control. With seven prison systems within a 10-mile radius, he is always one arm’s length away from pulling a gun, slamming somebody into the ground, or getting nearly stabbed. But the scariest part of Mayor of Kingstown’s violence is that it stems from a corrupt prison system that fails to rehabilitate the incarcerated.
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