Taylor Sheridan’s continuation of Yellowstone collides with the franchise’s biggest challenge in its history

Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone franchise might seem unstoppable right now, but the upcoming Y: Marshalls will prove whether the series can survive the transition to traditional network TV. The Yellowstone franchise is already a historic TV phenomenon for many reasons. Beginning. Back in 2018, Taylor Sheridan’s original show quickly grew from a modest hit into a full-blown empire.

2021’s spinoff 1833 expanded the world of Yellowstone, while 2022’s 1923 fleshed out the fictional world even further. While the original series Yellowstone ended with season 5 in 2024, after airing 53 episodes, the upcoming spinoffs The Madison and Y: Marshalls prove that the Yellowstone franchise as a whole isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

While Sheridan’s big-screen career includes critical hits like Sicario and Wind River, the writer/director has also weathered underperformers like 2021’s Those Who Wish Me Dead. In contrast, Sheridan’s streaming TV dominance is unparalleled and almost unprecedented. With Tulsa King, Landman, the Yellowstone franchise, and even the critically dismissed Mayor of Kingstown, Sheridan has proven himself a streaming icon.

Y: Marshalls Will Be The First Yellowstone Series To Air On Network TV

That said, the Yellowstone franchise’s success doesn’t mean that it is too big to fail. There is one area of screen entertainment that Sheridan has not yet conquered, and it is a notoriously tricky one to succeed in. Yellowstone and its earlier spinoffs were all streaming shows, not network TV releases, but this is set to change with Y: Marshalls.

Starring Yellowstone’s Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton, Y: Marshalls will move away from the titular ranch and center on Kayce’s time in the military. Focusing on new characters and a few familiar faces, Y: Marshalls is a direct sequel that will pick up after the ending of Yellowstone season 5 when the show premieres on Sunday, March 1, 2026.

Since Y: Marshalls is a mid-season replacement for CBS, the show will be the first Yellowstone property to air on a traditional network instead of a streaming service. This may not sound like a big deal, but few TV shows have made this transition thanks to the relatively brief history of streaming services as a medium.

Taylor Sheridan’s TV Empire Was Built On Streaming

Moreover, very few creators can boast a TV empire with the same size and scope as Sheridan’s ever-growing universe of shows. While Shonda Rhimes and South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone have carved out deals that were equally, if not more lucrative than Sheridan’s historic Paramount deal, their output doesn’t match Sheridan’s shows in terms of consistency.

Rhimes has bounced between period dramas like Netflix’s Bridgerton and straightforward network medical dramas like Grey’s Anatomy, as well as some successful procedurals. In contrast, Parker and Stone have only ever worked on South Park and a handful of minor one-off projects, although South Park’s streaming dominance knocked Sheridan’s shows off Paramount+’s top spot many times over the years.

Sheridan, in contrast, has built a cohesive, recognizable brand across his many streaming shows, and his seal of approval means that his reputation has weathered flops like Lioness and the critical drubbing received by Mayor of Kingstown season 1. Sheridan is a brand unto himself, but this may not translate to network success for Y: Marshalls.

Network television is a fundamentally different beast from streaming, with different storytelling styles, different release schedules, and different content regulations. CBS’s tighter censorship may result in Y: Marshalls no longer feeling like a Yellowstone companion piece, or the show’s more traditional release schedule could jar with Sheridan’s unique pacing.

Network Scheduling Could Make Or Break Yellowstone’s Sequel Y: Marshalls

The success of Sheridan’s earlier Yellowstone shows should be reassuring for the arrival of Y: Marshalls, but network TV remains a law unto itself, where even successful creators of acclaimed shows can sometimes struggle to regain their footing. That said, the spinoff’s potential success could be an even bigger deal than its failure.

If Y: Marshalls is a dud, this would spell an end to Sheridan’s reign as one of TV’s most prominent creative voices. However, this has a historic precedent. The failures of John from Cincinnati and Luck proved that David Milch, the wunderkind behind Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, and Deadwood, had his limits.

Similarly, the underwhelming response to Goliath and the outright failure of The Romanoffs proved that Mad Men creator and The Sopranos writer Matthew Weiner wasn’t incapable of spectacular career failures. Thus, it is clear that legendary TV show runners have fallen from grace before, and Sheridan could fall victim to the same fate.

However, Y: Marshalls is also a direct Yellowstone sequel. As such, if the show is anywhere near as big as the original, it could signal the start of a whole new era for network TV Westerns. There was a time when shows like Rawhide, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, and Gunsmoke were among TV’s biggest titles.

Until only a few years ago, the thought of network TV reviving this genre seemed laughable. However, after the Yellowstone franchise’s historic success, Y: Marshalls could bring Westerns back to the forefront of network TV for the first time in over 60 years.