xKevin Costner’s upcoming epic Western movie Horizon: An American Saga has been compared to Yellowstone since it was announced, and there are some significant similarities between the two projects. There are still very few plot details about Horizon that have been made available, but the film’s two recent trailers have given a good glimpse into some of what’s in store. It’s already clear that Horizon will blaze its own trail, but it also seems to have taken some inspirations from one of Kevin Costner’s previous shows, Yellowstone.
The biggest similarity between Horizon and Yellowstone is Costner himself, as he played John Dutton on the Western show, and he’ll play Hayes Ellison in Horizon. Costner quite controversially left Yellowstone in favor of Horizon, just ahead of Yellowstone season 5 part 2. He’s also invested quite a bit of his own money into the Horizon films, mostly because the franchise is his career-long passion project. Although he left his flagship show, Horizon still bears several striking similarities to Yellowstone.
8. Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone & Horizon Characters Are Both Trying To Protect Their Land
Costner’s Characters Have The Same Basic Motivation
The newest trailer for Horizon gave a quick insight into Costner’s character, Hayes Ellison. During one scene, Hayes looked at a poster for a town called Horizon, the franchise’s namesake, and declared that it was “a place I might be able to see myself.” That set Hayes up to have as vested an interest in protecting Horizon as John did in protecting the Yellowstone ranch. While they seem very similar in that respect, Horizon has also emphasized one key difference in how Hayes protected his land versus how John did his.
The trailers for Horizon feature several shots of Hayes firing a gun and engaging in different fights across the frontier. That makes it seem like he’ll be very actively involved in protecting Horizon and its people, and it also goes against one of John’s most prominent traits. In Yellowstone, John and the rest of the Duttons were very hands-off, preferring to allow their ranch hands to do the actual crimes necessary to keep the ranch safe. In that way, he was more like a mob boss, while Hayes seems closer to the traditional idea of a gunslinger in Horizon.
7. Several Yellowstone Actors Play Characters In Horizon
Three Different Actors From The Yellowstone Franchise Joined Costner’s Movie
One of Horizon’s most overt similarities to Yellowstone comes from its cast. Three actors in Horizon also appear in the Yellowstone franchise. Danny Huston played Dan Jenkins in the first two seasons of Yellowstone, and he played a colonel in the movie. Will Patton played Garrett Randall, Jamie’s biological father, in Yellowstone seasons 3 and 4, and he’ll play Owen Kittredge in Horizon. Finally, though he didn’t appear in Yellowstone itself, James Landry Hébert did appear in one of its spinoffs, 1883, as Wade, and he’ll play Flagg in Horizon.
It’s not currently clear how closely each actor’s character will be to their Yellowstone counterpart yet, but there was likely a reason they were chosen for the franchise. That doesn’t necessarily mean they were supposed to be a way to connect Horizon and Yellowstone together, though. A fairly possible explanation is simply that Costner enjoyed their work and invited them to participate in his project.
6. Danny Huston’s Horizon Character Has Echoes Of His Yellowstone Villain
Huston Played Dan Jenkins In Yellowstone & Colonel Houghton In Horizon
One of the most prominent Horizon actors so far who also had a role in Yellowstone is Danny Huston. He plays Dan Jenkins, a land developer and one of the main antagonists to the Duttons, in the early seasons of Yellowstone. In Horizon, he’ll be portraying Colonel Houghton, a commanding officer in charge of some amount of land in the American frontier. Huston’s role as Houghton isn’t entirely clear at this time, as there are still so few plot details about Horizon available, but there have been hints that he’ll play a similar role to the one he had in Yellowstone.
In one of the trailers for Horizon, Houghton said that “There’s no army of this Earth that’s going to stop those wagons coming, little as they’re wanted.” In Yellowstone, Jenkins was trying to spread his business West by encroaching upon the Duttons’ land. In Horizon, it seems Houghton will be doing much the same, only the land he’ll be encroaching upon will be that of American Indians, and he’ll have the United States military supporting his efforts.
5. Horizon Has An Ensemble Cast, Like Yellowstone
Horizon’s Talented Cast Should Allow It To Mirror Yellowstone’s Sprawling Story
One of the many draws of Yellowstone is that while John Dutton may be the main character, he’s hardly the only protagonist of the series. The rest of the Dutton family, as well as ranch hands like Rip and Jimmy, are just as important as John, and their side stories blend into the show’s main narrative seamlessly. Based on how often they were featured in the trailers, it already seems Horizon will take a similar approach to its characters’ stories. If it resembles Yellowstone’s storytelling style as much as it seems it will, Horizon will have a deep cast of compelling characters to work with.
One of the reasons the movie could spend so much time on characters other than Costner’s Hayes Ellison is because Horizon has a star-studded cast. Some of the most recognizable names include Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), Sienna Miller (American Sniper), Luke Wilson (Idiocracy), Sam Worthington (Avatar), and Jena Miller (The Neon Demon), among many others. That cast alone means that their characters will likely be major parts of the movie, and could be just as important as the Dutton children in Yellowstone.
4. Kevin Costner’s Horizon & Yellowstone Characters Are Both Leaders
While Kevin Costner may not be the only focus of Horizon, he’ll certainly be a main character, and Hayes Ellison’s interest in protecting his land isn’t the only similarity he shares with John Dutton. Based on the trailers for Horizon, Hayes will be some sort of leader for the town itself and the people headed to Horizon. That will once again position Costner at the center of events, just as his role as John Dutton did in Yellowstone. That role also bears a striking resemblance to one of Yellowstone’s spinoff shows, 1883.
In Yellowstone, John’s main function in the story is as a leader. He was the obvious head of the Yellowstone ranch itself, but in later seasons he even went on to become the governor of Montana. Many of the show’s events and plot points hinge on John’s decisions and leadership abilities, and it seems Horizon will give Hayes a similar level of power.
3. Horizon & Yellowstone Will Have Similar Long Stories
Horizon Could Cover As Much Narrative Ground As A Season Of Yellowstone
Costner has already put a significant amount of faith into Horizon, which is evidenced by the fact that there will be several Horizon movies. He’s already planned out four separate movies for the franchise, and there have already been reports that at least one Horizon movie will have a monumental runtime of three hours. It’s even possible that every one of the four installments will follow that runtime trend, which will give Horizon more than enough time to craft a truly huge and intricate story.
If the four Horizon movies did all end up being closed to three hours long, it would easily surpass the length of a full season of Yellowstone. That means that each Horizon movie could cover quite a bit of ground, and the franchise could be nearly unrecognizable at its end than it will be at its start, and the movie’s characters could experience quite a bit of development by the final film. Yellowstone season 1, for example, starts with Kayce hating John, and ends with him returning to live on the ranch, so there’s no telling how much could happen in Horizon.
2. Yellowstone & Horizon Both Appeal To Modern Audiences
Horizon & Yellowstone Seem To Demystify The Old West
While they might be set in different eras – Horizon around the Civil War and Yellowstone in the modern day – both of Costner’s projects seem to be made with a contemporary audience’s tastes in mind. Yellowstone, for instance, deviated from the Western genre’s roots in several ways: it focuses on moral gray characters in a complex story, it treats the Broken Rock Indian Reservation and its people as legitimate characters with valid goals, and more. Horizon seems set to follow that trend, as some aspects of the trailers, like the raid of the Kitteredge home, indicate that the movie will show a less romanticized view of Westward expansion.
While there have been hints that Horizon will offer a more demystified view of the Old West, there are also some hints to the contrary. Some of the trailer footage for Horizon indicates that American Indians will be portrayed as villains, which will be a step back from Yellowstone’s treatment of the centuries-old conflict. There’s also a chance that this will be used as a plot device for character development, though, and that the movie’s characters will come to realize their role in the genocide of American Indians. There’s no telling which perspective Horizon will take at this time, though, as there are still so few plot details available.
1. Horizon & Yellowstone Have A Deep Reverence For Nature In The West
Yellowstone & Horizon Both Truly Appreciate The West
Yellowstone and Horizon are both love-letters to the Western genre, but they also have a deep revival for the West itself. Both projects clearly appreciate the beauty of the West’s natural elements, from mountain ranges to plains and canyons. They also seem to both be interested in the preservation of the West’s natural beauty. This was hinted at in one of Horizon’s trailers, again by Danny Huston’s character, as he said that “You and I are standing guard on one of the last great open spaces.” Coupled with the multiple nature shots shown in the trailers, that suggests that Horizon sees the beauty of the West.
Meanwhile, Yellowstone’s recovery for nature is much more well-established. A major theme of the show is the preservation of the ranch’s, and by extension the entire of Montana’s, natural resources. The Duttons were constantly at odds with those who wanted to destroy the natural beauty around them, land developers and business interests. A revival for tradition and the way things have been for centuries is core to Yellowstone, and it seems it will also be a core feature of Horizon: An American Saga.
