Why Yellowstone Creator Taylor Sheridan Thinks The Western Genre Will Never Die

Some say Kris Kristofferson’s infamous box office bomb “Heaven’s Gate” killed the Western. Others say it was the rise of the revisionist ethos that marked the end of the genre’s popularity. And according to Roger Ebert, a forgotten Ali Larter Western signed the genre’s death certificate in 2001. As far as “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan is concerned, however, the Western never died. In fact, in Sheridan’s view, not only does the genre maintain its appeal today, but it will never truly fade because it’s essentially the United States’ version of medieval times.

The simplistic view is that Westerns began to fall out of favor in the 1960s and bottomed out completely in the 1970s. But 1969 was a banner year for Westerns, boasting some unequivocal classics in “True Grit” and “The Wild Bunch.” By that point, many of Clint Eastwood’s best Westerns were yet to debut, including 1973’s “High Plains Drifter” and 1976’s “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” Clearly, then, Oaters were still going strong in the 1970s. But there’s no question the genre was flagging at the time, and by the time Kristofferson suited up as Marshal James Averill, things were looking bleak.

The thing is, this most “American” of genres never truly went away, even as the ’70s saw sci-fi usurp its pop culture standing. For Sheridan, whose movies and shows are a testament to the Western’s enduring appeal, this makes perfect sense. In his view, the Western never died and never will as long as creators produce quality examples of the genre.

The massive popularity of Taylor Sheridan shows and the numerous attempts to emulate those shows — especially “Yellowstone” — are the most obvious examples of how the Western is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance in recent years. According to the man himself, that’s to be expected. During an appearance on the Bill Simmons podcast, Sheridan recalled meeting with networks to pitch “Yellowstone” and encountering pushback, much of it driven by the notion that nobody cares about cowboys anymore.

The writer recounted numerous meetings with network executives. “I had the argument many times,” he explained. “They said, ‘Look, they just tried to do this, they made that movie ‘Cowboys and Aliens. The cowboy genre’s dead.” But Sheridan refused to buy into any of it. “The cowboy genre’s not dead,” he continued, “What’s dead is dumb movies about cowboys and aliens. That’s a bad genre, maybe don’t do that.”

2011’s “Cowboys & Aliens” was the sci-fi flop Harrison Ford didn’t understand but starred in anyway. He probably shouldn’t have, though. Jon Favreau’s film made $174.8 million worldwide on a $163 million budget and debuted to lackluster reviews. Evidently, the film then came to symbolize to executives that audiences had completely moved on from Westerns, which is sort of ridiculous, considering the movie was hardly a traditional oater. Sheridan could see it was nonsense at the time, and knew what the answer was: make a good Western instead of a bad one. After all, as he sees it, the genre simply can’t ever truly die.

Taylor Sheridan faced significant difficulty pitching “Yellowstone,” famously being rejected by HBO before finding a home for his neo-Western series at Paramount. Part of the problem was that his original “Yellowstone” pitch sounded like a studio’s worst nightmare simply due to the fact that it was going to cost an inordinate amount to produce. But according to the creator, just as troublesome was the widespread belief that audiences no longer cared about Westerns. For Sheridan, that was patently false.

“Every time someone makes a good Western, it’s a f****** hit. Every time,” he told Bill Simmons, pointing to Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning 1992 effort “Unforgiven” as well as the 2008 remake of “3:10 to Yuma” and 1985’s “Silverado.” “They’re all hits,” he continued. “Because it’s a very uniquely American thing to explore, that period’s fascinating to us. It’s the closest thing we had to a medieval times. Our dark ages, our medieval period, was the post-Civil War 1800s.”

It’s this that gives the Western its enduring appeal, according to Sheridan. The Western isn’t just a fun film genre that appeals for its built-in action and adventure, but a foundational feature of American culture that explores the very foundations of the country’s society. It’s hard to argue with, given the popularity of his various shows — though all of Sheridan’s projects barring “Yellowstone” spin-offs “1923” and “1883” are set in the modern day. Still, that doesn’t necessarily undermine his argument. The themes and archetypes of the genre have clearly retained their appeal and, if Sheridan is right, always will.