Entertainment
How Is The Madison Connected to Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone Universe
Fans of Landman, Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown are gearing up to watch Taylor Sheridan‘s new TV show The Madison — but how is it connected to his Yellowstone franchise?
Paramount+ offered a glimpse at the upcoming show in January, which introduced the fictional Clyburn family. After originating from New York City, the Clyburns relocate to the Madison River valley of southwest Montana for emotional recovery following a tragedy that shattered the family.
Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell lead the cast of the highly-anticipated series, which also includes Patrick J. Adams, Elle Chapman, Matthew Fox, Beau Garrett, Amiah Miller, Ben Schnetzer and Kevin Zegers. Rebecca Spence, Alaina Pollack and Danielle Vasinova make up the rest of the cast — with a guest appearance from Will Arnett.
While the plot of The Madison likely doesn’t sound familiar, the show has been in the works for a number of years. It originated as a Yellowstone spinoff after Sheridan’s critically acclaimed series premiered in 2018 to resounding success.
Paramount’s Yellowstone is over but the TV universe continues to grow with several long gestating spinoffs — including The Madison. The popular franchise, which premiered in 2018, introduced viewers to the fictional Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana. While some viewers came for Kevin Costner‘s portrayal of family patriarch John Dutton — […]
Paramount Network officially greenlit an untitled Yellowstone follow in May 2023 after announcing the OG show’s end. ViacomCBS president Chris McCarthy confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the spinoff would star Matthew McConaughey, which came in the midst of Yellowstone lead Kevin Costner not returning for the second half of the final season to shift his focus to directing and acting in Horizon: An American Saga.
Followers of the show were familiar with speculation that Costner, 71, and Sheridan, 55, had a falling out over the direction of the show. Sheridan, for his part, slammed claims he was at odds with Costner.
The McConaughey spinoff was titled 2024 — with Yellowstone stars Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser and Luke Grimes potentially reprising their roles. One year later, the project was dead and got replaced with The Madison.
Reilly, 48, and Hauser, 50, are now expecting to be at the center of Paramount’s Dutton Ranch. CBS, meanwhile, has its own spinoff with Grimes, 42, titled Marshals, which premieres on March 1. Amid various delays and changes, Yellowstone fans are also still waiting for the previously teased 6666 spinoff — which was set to follow Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White) during his time at the Four Sixes ranch in Texas.
Since Yellowstone debuted in 2018, the story of the Dutton family has had enough potential to inspire six spinoffs (and counting) to add to the Paramount Network roster — but with that has come delays. Yellowstone focuses on a powerful family that runs the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. Amid their success, the […]
Sheridan previously addressed his multitude of ongoing projects — including those not connected to Yellowstone.
“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.”
News broke in October 2025 that Sheridan’s programming would be going through more changes now that he closed a film and TV deal with NBCUniversal. 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.
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.
The Madison premiered Saturday, March 14, on Paramount+.