A Yellowstone Successor Is Hiding on Netflix—And It’s from Taylor Sheridan Himself

Netflix’s Western miniseries, Godless, is the perfect follow-up to 1883. Released in 2017, Frank Scott’s Godless takes place in 1884, which is actually when 1883 ends. Godless depicts a group of people living in the mining town of La Belle, New Mexico. However, Godless is a female-driven Western, since most of the men in the community are gone.

Like 1883, Godless paints the harsh realities of the American West, but from a different angle. The Duttons traveled as pioneers in covered wagons along the Oregon Trail to claim free land in Oregon. During this period, other settlers followed the Santa Fe and California Trails to establish mining towns throughout the West, which is where Godless picks up.

While most of the wagon train led by Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) in 1883 is committed to making it to Oregon, the party considers other options after a series of tribulations. Toward the end of the show, Brennan suggests that the wagon train divert to Colorado, spending the winter in the mountains and potentially settling in mining towns.

83 would also enjoy watching Godless because it boasts powerful female leads that rival those in Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequel. The cast of 1883 features captivating female characters like Elsa (Isabel May) and Margaret (Faith Hill), the daughter and wife of James Dutton (Tim McGraw), the distant relative of John Dutton (Kevin Costner) who established the family’s Montana homestead.

While Elsa was just an adolescent in 1883, she is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding characters in the show. Elsa rises to the challenges of surviving in the untamed American territories better than anyone, while also balancing coming-of-age experiences like falling in love and learning essential life and survival skills. While more traditional, Margaret is also a capable pioneer.

Godless also gives its audience headstrong female characters to root for, with Mary Agnes McNue (Merritt Wever) and Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery) leading Godless’ cast. McNue and Fletcher have also risen to the challenges of surviving in the West with hardly any men around and have proven themselves to be just as capable and fierce as their male counterparts.

Like Elsa and Margaret, we witness how gritty and adept Alice and Mary Agnes are as the plot intensifies. However, Mary Agnes and Alice’s arc is far more satisfying. The women in Godless aren’t green pioneers; they are settlers who have already experienced the worst that the American West has to offer, and have been sharpened by its challenges.

Godless Has A Better Ending Than 1883

The End Of Godless Doesn’t Disappoint

That said, those who would love 1883 might enjoy the Netflix show even more, because Godless has a better ending. While the end of 1883 sets up the rest of the Yellowstone franchise, it is objectively heartbreaking. Some characters succeed, but many of 1883’s most captivating characters are gone by the end, succumbing to the harsh circumstances of the time.

Godless is no less ruthless to its characters, and we witness many of them fall. However, the end of Netflix’s show is better in the sense that many of the fan-favorite characters survive, their stories all intersecting in meaningful and enjoyable ways by the end of Godless. The Western doesn’t have rose-colored glasses, but it prioritizes the most satisfying victories.

Regardless, both series show gritty, non-traditional, weapon-wielding women who outshine their counterparts. In that sense, the stories are subversive within the Western genre, centering on the types of female-driven narratives absent in traditional Westerns. Watching Yellowstone’s 1883 or Godless becomes about whether the female characters will succeed. And they hold their own in the American West even when they don’t.