Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Yellowstone’ Universe Could Be About to Take a Major Blow at Paramount+

You would think that having provided the streamer with a constant stream of Top 10 hits would be enough to have Paramount throwing black checks at Taylor Sheridan , but it seems that his next run of shows could be faced with something more challenging than a wartime shoot-out or raid on a ranch. He could be faced with a dreaded budget cut.

Like many streamers, Paramount+ has been undergoing changes in several ways, and that includes a change in leadership. According to Puck, this is going to come with a wave of budget cuts for all of Paramount’s TV shows, even those by the mighty TV god that is Taylor Sheridan.

Having proven himself as a writer with hit action movies such as Sicario, the multi-talented Sheridan found a new playground in 2018 when he created Yellowstone. With a big-name cast led by Kevin Costner, the story of the Dutton dynasty started out as a pretty linear affair. However, the incredible success of the series didn’t take long to have Paramount clamoring for the next story, leading to the prequel spinoffs of 1883 and 1923. At the same time, Sheridan also created Tulsa King, giving Sylvester Stallone his first major TV role, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness, and Landman.

While most of these shows are returning for more seasons, and Sheridan has at least two more Yellowstone offshoots in the works, the report suggests that new streaming head Cindy Holland is determined to slash the budgets of all the streamer’s TV shows to around $9 million an episode, down from the current spend of up to $16 million. While Sheridan’s future is pretty secure at Paramount+, the report suggests that the writer is not particularly happy about this turn of events.

Taylor Sheridan Could Find a Home For His Work Elsewhere

While there are many TV shows that make do with the budgets they are given, the idea of Sheridan just rolling over and taking whatever is handed out to him is incredibly unlikely. While he has many irons in the fire at Paramount, and a couple of years to run on his current contract, if his budgets end up causing a problem with the scope and vision of his projects, there are many other streamers that will be more than happy to take him off Paramount’s hands.

Sheridan has always attracted the kind of stars that many only dream of having as part of their ensemble, as along with Costner as the head of the Dutton family across five seasons of Yellowstone, other stars who have appeared in Sheridan’s shows include Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Demi Moore, Jon Hamm, Billy Bob Thornton, and Zoe Saldaña. That kind of star power commands a hefty cost before adding in the additional funding needed to film in various locations around the U.S. for weeks at a time. It is hard to imagine that Sheridan will want to start using sound stages and increased internal scenes in order to stick to a new lower budget, which could end up causing plenty of friction in the next two years.