Before Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone Universe, This HBO Show Was The Best Western On TV

Director and writer Taylor Sheridan struck gold when he created his Yellowstone franchise, but before it existed, one HBO show was the best Western on TV: Deadwood. The Yellowstone universe is an impressive undertaking for television, and with even more upcoming Yellowstone spinoffs, there is a lot to love about what Sheridan is doing for the genre as a whole. The expansive universe has also found a sizable audience over the years, showing just how much potential Westerns still have.

Thanks to Yellowstone and the rest of Sheridan’s franchise, it feels like the popularity of Westerns — particularly on television — has really taken off. While Yellowstone, 1883, and 1923 are all been strong additions to the genre, there is another Western series that is arguably the best the category has ever seen. Over a decade before Sheridan began his acclaimed universe, HBO’s Deadwood was a masterpiece from start to finish.

Deadwood Is An HBO Classic Every Fan Of Westerns Should Watch

Deadwood Is One Of HBO’s Best Shows

HBO has often been the pinnacle of prestige television, with some of the best shows of all time coming from them, including The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, and more. Though it may not get the same recognition as some of the heavy hitters, Deadwood is an HBO classic in every way, running for three seasons from 2004 to 2006. Though Deadwood was canceled early, the series eventually received the follow-up film, Deadwood: The Movie, in 2019, earning high critical acclaim in the process.

Deadwood excelled with its gritty narrative set in South Dakota in the 1870s, with a formidable array of actors that included Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Jim Beaver, and a plethora of others. Deadwood is a perfect series for fans of the Western genre and is accessible enough to welcome in newcomers. These strengths give it quite a bit in common with Sheridan’s Yellowstone and its follow-ups. It’s also just one of the best HBO shows of all time.

How Deadwood Changed The Game For Westerns On Television

Deadwood Successfully Brought The Gritty Western To Television

Prestige television is often at the forefront of changing the landscape of television, and Deadwood did just that for Westerns. The genre used to be dominant in the film industry, but it started losing its momentum in the late ’60s into the ’70s. In the ’90s, however, films like Unforgiven led to a small resurgence of Westerns. And then, Deadwood brought the gritty, grounded approach to the genre to television, opening the door for numerous Western shows to thrive in the wake of its success.

Shows like Godless, Wynonna Earp, Justified, and Yellowstone all have Deadwood to thank for paving the way and allowing a more serious approach to the genre. This is why it thrives on the small screen, even today. While all these shows have been successful in their own right, Deadwood still stands above them as the best. It showed how viable the Western could be on television, even if its popularity in the film industry will never reach the heights of the past.

Yellowstone May Not Have Been Possible Without Deadwood

Deadwood Showed That Series Like Yellowstone Could Be Possible

While Yellowstone, and the entire universe that Taylor Sheridan has created, is a triumphant success, it might not have existed if Deadwood didn’t set the standard for what to expect from modern Westerns on television. Though both shows are part of the Western genre, they are different in a lot of ways, as Yellowstone feels a bit more heightened in its conflicts than Deadwood while still feeling gritty. Still, the success of Deadwood, and the artistic merit involved, showed that a series like Yellowstone could be possible.

Sheridan has essentially perfected the TV shared universe at this point, but a show like Deadwood will always be held in high regard for what it did for the Western genre, not only on television, but as a whole. It’s still one of the best Westerns of all time and an absolute must-watch for fans of the genre. Deadwood will likely forever remain the standard for modern Western TV.