Yellowstone’s 22-Year-Old Predecessor Makes Taylor Sheridan’s Show Look Tame

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Despite the praise for Yellowstone as a realistic and complex Western, it doesn’t quite measure up to what the genre has to offer today. While Taylor Sheridan’s earlier work, like Sicario and Wind River, were powerful and genuine crime dramas, his signature style has become predictable in his more recent projects. This could explain why his later films, Those Who Wish Me Dead and Finestkind, weren’t as well-received by critics.

Taylor Sheridan’s most popular creation, the epic Western drama Yellowstone, was a massive hit during its run and led to several related shows. These include the prequel series 1883 and 1923, as well as the spinoff Lawmen: Marshals. While Lawmen: Marshals is doing well on CBS and fans are excited for Yellowstone‘s continuation, Dutton Ranch, it’s clear that the storylines within the Yellowstone universe have become somewhat formulaic over time.

Despite having the polished look and intense content of a high-quality drama like those often seen on premium channels, Yellowstone‘s stories are surprisingly straightforward. The show pretends its characters operate in a gray area, but it’s clear you’re meant to support John, Beth, and Rip and take their side in all their violent conflicts. Unlike the bold, complex, and morally challenging Western Deadwood, Yellowstone feels less daring and impactful.

Deadwood Is Still The Best Western TV Series of the 21st Century

The show Deadwood takes place in the 1870s in the South Dakota town of the same name, both before and after it officially became part of the Dakota Territory. It’s a complex drama with a large cast of characters, set in the classic Western landscape but with a greater emphasis on historical detail. Featuring outstanding performances from Timothy Olyphant as Sheriff Seth Bullock and Ian McShane as the notorious saloon owner Al Swearengen, the show tells a broad story that includes a wide range of town residents and real historical figures like Wyatt Earp and Calamity Jane.

Despite initially seeming like a typical old-fashioned Western, Deadwood was actually much closer in style to HBO’s Game of Thrones, though it featured guns instead of dragons. The show was known for its frequent, brutal, and surprising violence, its strikingly realistic (and often profane) dialogue, and its boldly complex storylines. Creator David Milch didn’t shy away from challenging viewers, expecting them to fully engage with the show’s detailed and immersive depiction of life in the Wild West, featuring a large ensemble cast of over a dozen central characters.

Despite its gritty and often unpleasant depiction of life, Deadwood offered a brilliant and insightful take on the Western genre. Similar to Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, it didn’t present gunfights as simple solutions to the problems facing the new settlement. And like other revisionist Westerns such as McCabe and Ms. Miller and Once Upon a Time in the West, the show didn’t shy away from portraying realistically flawed and often awful characters, refusing to romanticize or justify their actions.

Deadwood’s Western Story Was Much Darker Than Any Yellowstone Show

Although Yellowstone was known for its bleakness while it aired, it’s not actually more intense than many other shows created by Taylor Sheridan. Yes, it features violence and flawed characters, but their bad deeds are usually explained—or even excused—by the actions of even more villainous people, and a general idea that violence is just part of being human. Despite its rough edges, Yellowstone is ultimately a fairly traditional action drama, like Reacher. It hints at the depth of shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, but doesn’t fully explore the complexities of its characters or offer real criticism of their behavior.

Unlike some modern Westerns, like Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, Deadwood doesn’t shy away from harsh realities. It’s a show where even sympathetic characters can be killed off unexpectedly, often by those considered the protagonists. The pursuit of land isn’t presented as justifiable or inevitable, but as a violent, senseless, and often tragic struggle. While Landman centers on the wealthy protecting their fortunes, Deadwood fully embraces the gritty and unforgiving side of the Old West.

A particularly brutal fight scene vividly demonstrated the senseless violence of life in the Wild West. Two men battled in the streets, and one died in a grim and unromantic way. This moment perfectly captured the show’s darker, more realistic tone, distinguishing it from Taylor Sheridan’s later, more polished work.

Unlike the Yellowstone series, which often tried to explain or excuse the actions of its characters, Deadwood didn’t feel the need to do so. This allowed the show to be bolder, more unconventional, and more unpredictable, even within the familiar Western setting. It paved the way for later series like American Primeval and Godless. Though it only ran for three seasons (2003-2006), Deadwood won eight Emmy Awards and remains highly regarded as one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

Deadwood’s Return Came At The Perfect Time

The story of Deadwood didn’t truly conclude with the series finale. In 2019, thirteen years later, Deadwood: The Movie was released, coinciding with the popularity of Yellowstone. It reminded Western fans of the genre’s potential for smart, surprising, and captivating television. IndieWire praised the movie as “bittersweet and brutally honest,” and it stands out as a rare spin-off that successfully matched the quality of the original series.

Although Deadwood didn’t reach the same level of popularity as Yellowstone, this was probably because it didn’t shy away from difficult moral questions and showed a very harsh, realistic side of life in the Old West. Deadwood was a more captivating Western than Yellowstone because of its intensity and the fact that characters weren’t simply good or evil. It’s a testament to the show’s quality that the recent spin-off movie captured that same complex and ambiguous feel, even after so many years.

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2026-05-10 21:39