Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, considered one of the best Western TV shows, is ending with season 5, but these Western movies and TV shows could be the next frontier smash. The Western genre, once the MCU of the ’50s, has gotten a huge boost from the likes of Sheridan and Yellowstone star Kevin Costner with their burgeoning efforts to reinvigorate and revitalize historical stories. Themes of honor, integrity, and self-actualization are hallmarks of life on the frontier, and thanks to shows like Yellowstone, longtime Western fans as well as newcomers can appreciate the legacies of prominent families like the Duttons who helped shape the American West.
From dramas focusing on a familial legacy and real-life Western lawmen to Western ensemble casts prioritizing gumption and tenacity in the face of insurmountable odds and inhospitable climes, these upcoming Westerns share themes, symbolism, and beautiful cinematography with Sheridan’s frontier brand. Several of them even include cast members that he’s worked with across several Yellowstone series. There will be something for every fan of the Western genre, but those in particular who will miss Yellowstone and want a compelling replacement.
11 Horizon: An American Saga
Kevin Costner’s Two-Part Western Epic
One of the biggest events for Western fans is Yellowstone star Kevin Costner’s epic Horizon: An American Saga, which will be released in two parts over the course of 2024. Chapter 1 will be released on June 28, 2024, followed by Chapter 2, which will come to theaters on August 16, 2024. Costner has been a longtime fan of Westerns and dedicated to the genre since his groundbreaking contribution Dances with Wolves, which cemented him as not just a bonafide movie star but an iconic frontier hero. He’s since participated in and produced numerous Westerns, including the critically acclaimed limited series The Hatfields and the McCoys.
Horizon: An American Saga has been described as a story of American patriotism “too big for one film” that’s a “multi-faceted chronicle covering the Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West.”
Horizon: An American Saga
Horizon: An American Saga is a Western film directed by Kevin Costner, and sees him in the starring role. The film explores multiple generations surrounding the expansion of the American West before and after the Civil War. Horizon is the first in a series of four films, all of which were greenlit by Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Release Date
- June 28, 2024
- Director
- Kevin Costner
- Cast
- Kevin Costner , Sienna Miller , Sam Worthington , Luke Wilson , Giovanni Ribisi , Thomas Haden Church , Jena Malone , Abbey Lee , Michael Rooker , Danny Huston , Isabelle Fuhrman , Jeff Fahey , Will Patton , Tatanka Means , Ella Hunt , Jamie Campbell Bower
- Studio(s)
- New Line Cinema , Territory Pictures
10 Ransom Canyon
The Drama Of Three Inter-Connected Ranching Families
Ransom Canyon is an upcoming Western television series set to premiere on Netflix in 2024. Starring Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly, this exciting drama follows three ranching families as their lives intersect in Texas Hill Country. Duhamel will play a character similar to Costner’s John Dutton named Staten Kirkland, owner of the massive Double K Ranch, resistant to change and the outside forces that jeopardize his rugged way of life. Kelly is Quinn O’Grady, a woman struggling to make a new life for herself in Ransom Canyon after living in New York as a concert pianist. Other cast members include Western heavyweights like James Brolin to ensure authenticity.
9 Empire Of The Summer Moon
Adapting The Book About The Comanche Leader Quanah
According to Deadline, Taylor Sheridan is planning to write and direct Empire of the Summer Moon adapted from the book by S.C. Gwynne that follows legendary Comanche leader Quanah and his fighters. Bidding was fierce, but Sheridan secured the rights to showcase the warriors who learned to ride horses and fire arrows as young as six years old. The movie will be an epic saga that will focus on the Comanche confrontation with colonial Spain and France. Quanah’s mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, will also be featured in a prominent event that saw her kidnapped at 9 by Comanches, eventually never wanting to leave.
8 1944
The Next Yellowstone Prequel
Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequels 1883 and 1923, which tell the story of previous Dutton generations like James and Margaret Dutton and their epic quest to settle in the American West, are getting a sequel series. 1944 will continue the Dutton’s narrative and showcase the birth of John Dutton and his formative years. Yellowstone fans will no doubt be eager to see what circumstances shaped the brash young man into the hardened cattle baron he became, and what key events galvanized his commitment to the ranch and his family.
2 More Yellowstone Spinoffs In Development
Two new Yellowstone spinoffs have been revealed, taking the franchise to different points in time as the flagship series comes to an end.
7 Untitled Yellowstone Sequel
Matthew McConaughey Has Been Rumored To Star
For the better part of a year, rumors have circulated about Matthew McConaughey in a Yellowstone spin-off, and now it seems like it’s happening. After the success of prequels like 1883 and 1923, which are period pieces that tell the story of previous Dutton generations, a sequel to Yellowstone seems ideal, particularly with a well-known face like McConaughey’s leading the cast. The Yellowstone universe is a rich sandbox of narratives that don’t necessarily need to be centered on the Dutton clan but tertiary characters that Sheridan has created, with the potential for rich character development for McConaughey, whose stints on True Detective have been very well-received.
6 The Thicket
High Adventure In A Cutthroat No-Man’s Land
Based on a novel of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale, The Thicket is a Western that takes place in east Texas, where a young man (Levon Hawke) tries to locate his sister (Esmé Creed-Miles) in “The Big Thicket,” a no-man’s land. He mounts a posse to go after Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) comprised of a gravedigger, a prostitute, and an infamous bounty hunter named Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage). In the vein of classic ensemble Westerns like The Searchers, The Thicket aims to explore how the harshness of the landscape and human reticence are no match for someone’s indomitable human spirit.
5 The Pinkerton
A Western Epic About The Famous Detective Agency
Jason Bateman is directing The Pinkerton, a supernatural Western based on the Pinkerton National Detective Agency that was founded in the mid-19th century and served under Abraham Lincoln as the president’s bodyguards at the time of the Civil War. Bateman has proved he’s as adept at drama as he is at comedy after his directorial debut Bad Words in 2013, and for winning an Emmy in 2019 for his episode of Ozark. Though he’s never directed a Western, the fact that it’s being developed by Bad Robot and J.J. Abrams is a good sign, not to mention the subject matter is particularly intriguing.
J.J. Abrams & Bad Robot Developing Supernatural Western The Pinkerton
J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot are producing The Pinkerton, an original project that’s described as a supernatural revenge thriller in a western setting.
4 Wind River: The Next Chapter
The Anticipated Sequel To Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River
Taylor Sheridan’s critically acclaimed Wind River, about the FBI teaming up with local hunters to catch notorious killers, is getting a sequel, and could prove to be as popular as Yellowstone with a new installment. Wind River: The Next Chapter promises to be as unsettling as its predecessor even though Sheridan isn’t in the director’s chair this time around. It won’t star Jeremy Renner or Elizabeth Olsen, but instead feature a new cast including Scott Eastwood, Kali Reis, and Tatanka Means, among others. It will also feature 1883-alum Martin Sensmeier, who made a huge impression in the first Yellowstone prequel.
3 Blood Meridian
Based On Cormac McCarthy’s Bloody Novel
Known for American gothic Westerns and thrillers, novelist Cormac McCarthy’s books were generally thought to be “unfilmable” thanks to their gratuitous violence and disturbing themes. None of these books remains as divisive and arresting as Blood Meridian, about one young man’s difficult journey of self-discovery and the resulting dark manifesto of his findings. Fans of the book will be clambering to know who will play the novel’s terrifying antagonist The Judge, and Yellowstone fans will appreciate the morally gray area all the setting’s characters inhabit, a hallmark of Sheridan cinema.
2 Place Of Bones
Homesteaders Defend Their Land From Outlaws
Place of Bones is an upcoming Western that will star Heather Graham as a woman on the frontier hoping to protect her ranch and daughter from a gang of outlaws led by Bear John (Tom Hopper). Also in the mix will be a traitor to their cohort named Calhoun (Corin Nemec), whose stolen contraband from the gang’s cache places the mother-daughter pair in even greater danger. The Western will be directed by Audrey Cummings (Darken, Tormented, and She Never Died), and will feature Donald Anthony “Cowboy” Cerrone, a retired MMA fighter, in a key role.
1 The Last Train To Fortune
An Unlikely Friendship Between A School Teacher & An Outlaw
Malcolm McDowell leads the cast of The Last Train To Fortune as conservative schoolmaster Cecil Peachtree, who misses the last train headed to a school in Fortune and must seek help from an unlikely ally. Striking a reluctant deal with outlaw Dooley (James Paxton), he accepts a ride to his next assignment in exchange for his school stipend, and the pair become a dynamic duo in the face of mounting danger. Mary Steenburgen and Bernadette Peters, who have both been no strangers to the Western genre round out the cast, along with Laura Marano, M.C. Gainey, and Lee Arenberg.
